LeConte,  Joseph, 

1823-1901. 
The  autobiography  of 

Joseph  Le  Conte; 


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NORTH  CAROLINA 

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THE    AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF 
JOSEPH    LE    CONTE 


/J 

Copyright,  1898,  by  George  L.  Wil 


Professor  JOSEPH  LE  CONTE. 


THE   AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF 

JOSEPH    LE    CONTE 


EDITED    BY 

WILLIAM    DALLAM    ARMES 


* — r   y—    U-<    i-'\ 


NEW     YORK 
D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1903 


Copyright,  190S 
By   D.    APPLETON   AND    COMPANY 


PREFACE 


In  justice  to  Professor  Le  Conte  and  to  the 
reader  a  few  words  are  necessary  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  following  b'ook  and  the  respective 
parts  of  the  author  and  the  editor  in  its  prepa- 
ration. 

During  the  illness  of  his  daughter  in  Cali- 
fornia in  1900  Professor  Le  Conte  had  many 
long  talks  with  her  about  his  early  experiences 
and  was  by  her  urged  to  write  out  an  account 
of  them  for  his  family.  He  was  then  too  busy 
preparing  for  a  trip  abroad  to  undertake  the 
work;  but  later  in  the  year,  in  his  old  home  in 
Columbia,  S.  C,  whither  he  had  gone  from  New 
York  to  recuperate  from  a  severe  illness  that 
interfered  with  his  plan  of  visiting  Europe,  his 
thoughts  reverted  to  her  request,  and  in  this 
period  of  enforced  leisure  he  began  to  write  his 
reminiscences.    In  the  midst  of  the  scenes  in 

v 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

which  the  events  that  he  was  narrating  occurred, 
and  surrounded  by  his  children,  grandchildren, 
and  great-grandchildren,  for  whom  the  manu- 
script was  intended  and  to  whom  from  time  to 
time  portions  of  it  were  read,  he  wrote  con 
amore,  and  what  was  originally  intended  as  a 
sketch  became  a  detailed  autobiography.  On 
his  return  to  California  early  in  1901  he  con- 
tinued the  work,  but  with  flagging  interest,  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  being  treated  in  a  com- 
paratively summary  manner.  Fortunately, 
however,  the  account  was  brought  down  to  a 
few  months  before  his  death,  and  concluded  with 
a  statement  of  what  he  himself  considered  of 
most  value  in  his  life-work. 

After  his  death  a  number  of  his  colleagues 
were  asked  to  prepare  biographical  memoirs  for 
publication  by  the  various  scientific  associations 
of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  were  permitted 
to  use  the  "  autobiographic  sketch."  Their  ex- 
tracts from  it  attracted  attention,  and  the 
family  was  urged  to  have  the  whole  edited  and 
published.  Somewhat  reluctantly  they  acceded 
to  the  request  of  his  friends,  and  to  me  was 
given  the  honor  of  preparing  for  the  press  the 
last  work  of  my  old  teacher. 

The  question  of  the  future  publication  of 
vi 


PEEFACE 

the  work  had  been  suggested  to  Professor  Le 
Conte  by  his  daughter,  and  he  had  answered 
that  it  certainly  could  not  be  published  in  the 
shape  in  which  he  left  it,  but  that  it  would 
be  a  rich  store  of  material  for  any  possible 
future  biographer.  No  implied  trust  was  vio- 
lated, therefore,  either  in  having  the  manuscript 
published  or  in  having  it  edited. 

My  desire  has  been  to  treat  the  manuscript 
with  all  due  reverence,  but  many  changes  have 
been  necessary.  Many  omissions  had  to  be 
made,  as,  owing  to  its  origin  and  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  originally  written,  it  contained 
much  that  was  too  intimately  personal  and  much 
of  too  little  general  interest  for  publication.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  lacunce  had  to  be  filled, 
for  in  a  number  of  instances  Professor  Le  Conte 
merely  referred  to  what  he  had  written  else- 
where. His  personal  experiences  during  the 
last  days  of  the  Confederacy,  for  instance,  are 
told  in  briefest  outline  in  a  single  paragraph  in 
the  manuscript  and  reference  made  to  a  detailed 
account  written  immediately  after  the  events. 
An  abstract  of  this  journal,  itself  a  manuscript 
as  long  as  the  autobiographic  sketch,  has  there- 
fore been  substituted  for  the  paragraph  and 
forms  Chapters  VII  and  VIII  of  the  book.  In 
B  vii 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

other  similar  instances  use  has  been  made  of 
Professor  Le  Conte's  letters  and  published  wri- 
tings. A  certain  amount  of  rearrangement  of 
the  material  in  the  manuscript,  moreover,  was 
necessitated  by  the  division  of  the  long,  con- 
tinuous narrative  into  chapters  of  approxi- 
mately equal  length.  The  titles  of  Professor  Le 
Conte's  publications,  which  he,  writing  currente 
calamo  and  with  no  time  for  verification,  fre- 
quently cited  in  the  manuscript  in  general  terms 
or  somewhat  inaccurately,  are  in  the  book  taken 
directly  from  the  articles,  to  which  references 
are  given  in  foot-notes  for  the  convenience  of 
those  desiring  to  read  them. 

With  all  these  changes  it  has  been  the 
editor's  desire  to  preserve  the  tone  and  spirit 
of  the  original.  That  the  style  is  frequently 
colloquial  seems  to  him  no  defect,  for  he  wished 
so  far  as  possible  to  retain  all  that  would  tend 
to  reveal  the  man  to  those  who  knew  only 
the  author.  To  them  he  was  the  patient  in- 
vestigator, the  wise  scientist,  the  fearless,  in- 
dependent, truth-loving  thinker;  to  those  who 
knew  him  personally,  and  particularly  to  those 
who  had  the  inestimable  privilege  of  being 
numbered  among  his  "  boys  and  girls,"  he  was 
all  this,  but,  first  and  foremost,  he  was  the 

viii 


PREFACE 

gentle,  kindly  spirit,  the  welcome  companion 
and  helpful  friend,  our  beloved  "  Professor 
Joe." 

The  manuscript  was  finished  such  a  short 
time  before  Professor  Le  Conte's  death  that 
there  is  but  little  to  add  as  to  the  events  of  his 
life.  His  own  account  ends,  "  I  still  hope  to 
finish  my  year  of  absence  in  Europe,  but  I  know 
not.  My  son  is  to  marry  in  June  and  much  de- 
sires that  I  should  be  present  at  his  wedding." 
He  yielded  to  the  desire,  gave  up  all  thought  of 
another  European  trip,  and  remained  quietly  in 
Berkeley  until  the  marriage-day,  June  tenth. 
The  departure  of  the  young  couple  on  a  wed- 
ding-trip to  the  King's  River  canon  and  the 
High  Sierra  thereabouts  awakened  in  him  a 
longing  for  the  mountains  and  a  desire  to  show 
the  wonders  of  the  Yosemite  to  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Davis,  who  had  come  from  South  Carolina 
to  be  present  at  her  brother's  wedding.  The 
Sierra  Club,  of  which  he  had  been  an  active  and 
enthusiastic  member  since  its  organization,  was 
planning  a  large  excursion  to  the  valley  and  he 
determined  to  join  it,  though  warned  by  his 
devoted  wife  that  his  strength  and  power  of 
endurance  were  by  no  means  what  they  formerly 
were. 

ix 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

By  an  odd  coincidence  he  met  at  the  railway 
station  in  Oakland  one  of  his  companions  on  his 
first  visit  to  the  Yosemite,  Professor  Frank 
Soule,  and  together  they  sped  in  luxurious  cars 
and  comfortable  stages  over  the  long,  hot  miles 
they  had  weariedly  ridden  thirty-one  years  be- 
fore. In  the  January,  1902,  number  of  the  Sierra 
Club  Bulletin  Professor  Soule  published  an  arti- 
cle on  Joseph  Le  Conte  in  the  Sierra,  in  which  he 
gives  the  facts  as  to  the  last  days  of  his  old 
friend.  He  writes :  "  He  was  happy  at  the 
thought  of  revisiting  (for  the  eleventh  time)  the 
great  Yosemite,  and  of  showing  to  his  dear 
ones  the  unrivaled  scenery  of  that  mountain 
fastness. 

"  Standing  upon  the  veranda  of  the  hotel  at 
Wawona,  he  said  to  me :  '  I  have  retraced  in 
memory  every  day's  march  of  our  excursion  in 
1870.  Can  you  point  out  our  camping-ground 
here  at  Wawona  f ' 

"  I  looked  around  me  and  confessed  that  I 
could  not ;  the  place  was  so  greatly  changed  and 
built  upon. 

"  "With  a  pleasant  smile  and  a  merry  chuckle 
of  triumphant  recollection,  he  pointed  along  the 
front  line  of  the  veranda  to  the  open  field  near 
the  stream,  and  said :  '  Do  you  see  those  three 

x 


PEEFACE 

trees  standing  together!  Well,  there  were  four 
of  them  thirty-one  years  ago,  and  you  and  I 
spread  our  blankets  beneath  their  branches.' 

"  '  Yes,  I  recall  it  all  now,'  I  replied.  And  I 
marveled  at  his  wonderful  memory." 

He  arrived  at  the  camp  at  the  base  of  Glacier 
Point  on  the  third  of  July  considerably  fatigued 
but  in  his  usual  high  spirits.  For  the  next  two 
days  he  was  the  life  of  the  party,  driving  with 
his  daughter  all  over  the  valley,  walking  to 
near-by  points  of  interest,  and  explaining  the 
geological  phenomena  to  crowds  of  eager  lis- 
teners. On  the  evening  of  the  fifth,  while  very 
tired  from  a  tramp,  he  ate  a  hearty  dinner, 
and  soon  afterward  complained  of  a  severe  pain 
in  the  region  of  the  heart.  A  physician  was  at 
once  summoned  and  diagnosed  the  trouble  as 
angina  pectoris,  and  with  this  diagnosis  Pro- 
fessor Le  Conte,  himself  a  physician,  agreed. 
Everything  possible  was  done  to  relieve  the  suf- 
ferer, and  in  the  morning  he  seemed  much  better. 
But  about  ten  o'clock,  while  the  physician  was 
absent  procuring  additional  remedies,  he  turned 
upon  his  left  side,  and  at  once  his  daughter  saw 
a  great  change  come  over  his  countenance.  "  Do 
not  lie  upon  your  left  side,  father,"  she  cried. 
"  You  know  it  is  not  good  for  you."    With  a 

xi 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

smile  he  answered,  "  It  does  not  matter,  daugh- 
ter." They  were  his  last  words.  Five  minutes 
later  the  happy-starred,  light-searching  spirit 
had  found  its  way  to  the  source  of  all  happiness 
and  light. 

That  evening  a  coach  slowly  made  its  way 
across  the  floor  of  the  valley.  On  one  seat  was 
the  stricken  daughter  with  a  faithful  friend,  on 
the  other  a  casket  buried  from  sight  beneath 
laurel  wreaths,  pine  boughs,  and  the  wild  flow- 
ers of  the  Yosemite.  Following  it  scores  of 
California  students  and  graduates  walked  with 
uncovered  heads.  Halting  at  the  foot  of  the 
grade,  they  watched  with  straining  eyes  the 
coach  with  its  mournful  burden  toil  up  the  long, 
lonely  mountain  road  till  it  disappeared  in  the 
darkness,  then  slowly  returned  to  camp,  each 
with  a  feeling  of  personal  loss.  Five  days  later 
the  words  of  the  funeral  service  were  spoken  in 
the  presence  of  a  vast  throng  that  testified  to 
the  grief  of  all  classes  of  citizens,  and  all  that 
was  mortal  of  Joseph  Le  Conte  was  laid  away 
beside  that  beloved  brother  from  whom  he  had 
so  seldom  been  separated  and  for  whom  he  had 
never  ceased  to  mourn.  There  he  rests  in  the 
beautiful  Mountain  View  cemetery,  his  grave 
marked  by  a  huge  boulder  from  near  the  spot 

xii 


PREFACE 

where  lie  died  in  the  Yosemite  that  he  had  loved 
so  long  and  so  well. 

"  When  the  Greeks  made  their  fine  saying 
that  those  whom  the  gods  love  die  young,  I  can 
not  help  believing  they  had  this  sort  of  death 
also  in  their  eye.  For  surely,  at  whatever  age 
it  overtake  the  man,  this  is  to  die  young." 

W.  D.  A. 

University  of  California, 
Berkeley,  February,  1903. 


Xlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — Ancestry,  parentage,  and  boyhood  ....  1 

II.— College  life  ;  choice  of  a  profession  ;  first  love,  37 
III. — Medical  study  in  New  York;  trip  through  the 

Northwest       .                       62 

IV. — Trips  to  the  Georgia  mountains  ;  marriage  ;  med- 
ical practise 104 

V. — Study  with  Agassiz 127 

VI. — Professorships    in    Oglethorpe    University,    the 
University  of  Georgia,   and  South  Carolina 

College 154 

VII. — In  time  of  war 178 

VIII. — A  fugitive  before  Sherman's  army         .        .        .  204 

IX.— After  the  war 229 

X. — Early  years  in  California 242 

XI. — Scientific  and  philosophical  papers,  and  summer 

excursions;  to  1887 266 

XII. — Geological   excursions  ;    first  visit  to  Europe  ; 

1887-1892 291 

XIII. — Scientific  activity  ;  second  visit  to  Europe  ;  sum- 
mary    817 


XV 


LIST   OF  ILLITSTKATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 

Professor  Joseph  Le  Conte.         .        .        .        Frontispiece 
From  a  recent  photograph 

The  Parents  of  Joseph  Le  Conte        .        .        .        .        .16 

Hurricane  Fall,  Tallulah  Falls,  Georgia     ....  116 

Design  for  the  Le  Conte  Memorial  Lodge         .         .        .  246 

Le  Conte  Dome  (formerly  South  Dome),  Yosemite  Valley  .  268 

Professor  John  Le  Conte 296 

Mrs.  Joseph  Le  Conte  . 302 

Professor  Le  Conte  in  Camp  in  the  King's  River  Cailon  .  328 


XV11 


THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF 
JOSEPH  LE  CONTE 


CHAPTER   I 

ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   AND   BOYHOOD 

The  Le  Conte  family  is  of  Huguenot  origin, 
and  is  descended  from  Guillaume  Le  Conte,  who 
was  born  in  Rouen,  March  6,  1659.  On  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685,  he 
left  Rouen.  It  is  probable  that  he  went  first  to 
Holland,  then  accompanied  William  of  Orange 
to  England  as  an  officer  in  his  army,  and  later, 
in  the  nineties,  came  to  America,  settling  in  New 
Rochelle.  Shortly  afterward  he  took  a  trip  to 
Martinique  and  there  met  and  married  Mar- 
gueritte  de  Valleau,  daughter  of  Pierre  Joyeulx 
de  Valleau,  also  a  refugee.  After  his  return  he 
resided  in  New  York,  where  he  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1710. 

The  name  Le  Conte  was  continued  through 
Pierre,  the  second  son,  through  whose  wife, 
Valeria  Eatton,  the  Le  Conte  family  is  connect- 

2  1 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ed,  though  now  but  distantly,  with  many  dis- 
tinguished families  in  the  United  States,  among 
them  the  Biddle,  Baird,  and  Berrien.  Of  the 
children  of  Pierre,  who  was  a  physician,  sev- 
eral moved  South  and  lived  in  Bryan  and  Lib- 
erty Counties,  Georgia;  some  permanently,  as 
William;  some  only  in  winter,  as  John  Eatton. 

William,  a  lawyer,  lived  partly  in  Savannah 
and  partly  at  "  Sans  Souci,"  his  plantation  on 
the  Ogeechee  River.  He  took  a  very  prominent 
part  in  the  revolutionary  movement  in  Geor- 
gia ;  having  been  appointed  a  member  of  the 
first  Council  of  Safety  for  the  Province  of  Geor- 
gia, on  June  22,  1775;  and  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  that  met  at  Savannah  on  July  4  of 
the  same  year.  As  a  member  of  the  Council, 
he  signed  a  letter  of  remonstrance  directed  to 
Sir  James  Wright,  Royal  Governor  of  Georgia, 
and  was  therefore  named  on  the  so-called  "  black- 
list "  that  Sir  James  sent  to  King  George ;  he  is 
there  termed  "  Rebel  Counselor."  He  died  in 
Savannah  without  issue. 

John  Eatton,  the  second  son,  from  whom 
descended  all  subsequent  Le  Contes,  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  present  writer.  He  was  born 
on  September  2,  1739 ;  and  died  in  New  Jersey 
on  January  4,  1822,  when  in  his  eighty-third 

2 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

year.  He  spent  his  summers  in  New  York  and 
his  winters  on  his  plantation,  "  Woodmanston," 
in  Liberty  County,  Georgia.  How  large  a  part 
he  took  in  the  revolutionary  struggle,  I  do  not 
know.  I  know,  however,  that  he  was  regarded 
as  a  malignant  and  a  rebel,  and  that  his  house, 
near  the  Barrington  road,  was  burned  by  Colo- 
nel Provost  in  his  march  through  Liberty  on 
his  way  to  the  Indian  territory.  The  ruins  of 
the  old  well  are  still  visible,  and  a  laurel-tree 
(Magnolia  grandiflora)  that  ornamented  the 
yard  still  stands.  I  find  it  recorded  in  the  His- 
tory of  Georgia,  moreover,  that  Dr.  J.  Le  Conte 
took  charge  of  the  provisions,  etc.,  contributed 
by  Liberty  County  to  the  people  of  Boston,  and 
sent  them  by  ship  in  1775  and  1776. 

He  married  Jane  Sloane,  of  New  York,  and 
the  issue  of  the  marriage  was  three  sons — "Wil- 
liam, Louis,  and  John  Eatton,  Jr.  William  died 
without  issue,  in  Liberty,  in  the  house  that  was 
afterward  burned ;  Louis  was  the  father  of  Pro- 
fessors John  and  Joseph  Le  Conte;  and  John 
Eatton,  Jr.,  the  third  son,  was  the  father  of 
John  L.  Le  Conte,  of  Philadelphia,  the  distin- 
guished entomologist. 

Louis,  the  father  of  the  writer,  was  born  in 
Shrewsbury,  N.  J.,  on  August  4,  1782.    He  was 

3 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

educated  in  New  York,  graduating  at  Columbia 
College  in  1799,  when  he  was  but  seventeen.  He 
studied  medicine  under  Dr.  Hosack,  and  at- 
tained great  knowledge  and  skill  in  that  profes- 
sion. He  was  called  "  doctor,"  but  I  think  never 
graduated  as  such,  his  only  object  in  studying 
medicine  apparently  being  to  practise  it  on  his 
own  plantation. 

John  Eatton,  Jr.,  remained  in  New  York  and 
became  a  captain,  and  later  major,  in  the  corps 
of  topographical  engineers  of  the  United  States 
army;  but  Louis,  some  twelve  years  before  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  1810,  when  he  was  twen- 
ty-eight, moved  South  and  assumed  the  man- 
agement of  the  property  in  Georgia. 

Louis  Le  Conte  was  so  remarkable  a  man 
and  his  influence  on  the  writer  was  so  great  that 
it  is  necessary  to  dwell  on  his  character  and  the 
plantation  life  in  Liberty. 

The  community  of  Liberty  County  was  a 
peculiar  one.  It  was  a  colony  of  English  Puri- 
tans, who  settled  first  in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  then 
moved  to  Dorchester,  S.  C,  and  then,  about 
1750,  to  Liberty  County.  A  Dorchester  was 
founded  here  also,  but  it  was  of  little  impor- 
tance. As  might  be  supposed  from  their  origin, 
these  settlers  were  characterized  equally  by  a 

4 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

rigid  orthodoxy  and  a  love  of  liberty.  The 
name  Liberty  County  was  given  in  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  the  flag  of  independence  was 
there  first  raised  in  Georgia.  It  was  character- 
ized also  as  the  most  moral  and  religious,  as 
well  as  the  most  intelligent,  community  in  Geor- 
gia. The  people  were,  however,  very  clannish 
and  exclusive.  My  father,  of  course,  was  an  out- 
sider, an  interloper,  not  "  one  of  the  us  " ;  and 
was  therefore  regarded  askance  for  some  time. 
Although  there  finally  grew  up  on  both  sides  the 
warmest  feelings,  although  he  finally  secured 
the  deepest  affection  and  reverence  of  the  whole 
community,  yet  he  was  of  a  different  spirit  and 
never  completely  affiliated  with  them:  he  was 
always  somewhat  of  an  outsider.  In  January, 
1812,  he  married  Ann  Quarterman,  a  Puritan 
born  in  the  county  in  1792  and  therefore  "  one 
of  the  us."  The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  four 
sons  and  three  daughters.  One  of  the  daughters 
died  in  infancy,  but  the  other  six  children  grew 
up  to  marry  and  have  families  of  their  own. 

v  I  was  born  on  the  plantation  "  Woodman- 
ston,"  February  26,  1823,  the  fifth  child  and 
youngest  son.  My  mother  died  of  pneumonia 
in  1826,  when  I  was  but  three  years  old.  I  can 
not  remember  at  all  either  her  face  or  any  event 

5 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

of  her  life.  The  one  thing  concerning  her  that 
I  remember,  the  earliest  event  in  the  self-con- 
scious history  of  my  life,'  was  connected  with 
her  death-bed.  It  was  a  bowl  of  blood  standing 
on  the  bureau  of  her  bedroom.  Doubtless  it 
deeply  impressed  me,  and  looking  back  now,  it 
seems  ominous.  It  probably  was  her  death-war- 
rant. My  father  always  thought  so,  the  blood 
having  been  drawn  by  the  attending  physicians 
against  his  judgment. 

I  can  not  remember  my  father  and  mother 
in  their  mutual  relations,  but  my  father  must 
have  loved  his  wife  passionately.  The  horror 
of  her  death  almost  dethroned  his  reason,  and 
out  of  the  resulting  gloom  and  mental  paralysis 
he  emerged  only  slowly  and  after  many  years. 
Although  I  could  not  then  understand  its  cause, 
this  feeling  tinged  all  my  early  life  with  a  mild 
sadness.  I  remember  well  his  silent  gloom.  I 
remember  well  how  he  would  snatch  me  up, 
strain  me  to  his  heart,  smother  me  with  passion- 
ate kisses,  set  me  down  quickly,  rise  and  walk 
rapidly  about  the  room,  sit  down,  and  again  re- 
lapse into  silence.  Hence  it  was  that  I  regarded 
him  with  reverence  and  passionate  love,  but  also 
with  awe  and  almost  with  fear.  My  mother  was 
buried  in  Midway  churchyard,  eight  miles  from 

6 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

the  plantation  house.  Every  Sunday  after 
morning  service  and  our  cold  lunch,  he  took  one 
or  two  of  us  boys — I  was  always  one — and 
walked  in  the  cemetery  to  visit  her  grave.  In 
tearless  silence  he  leaned  on  the  railing  and 
gazed  steadily  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  on  the 
simple  mound ;  then  silently  walked  away,  lead- 
ing us  by  the  hand.  This  he  did  every  Sunday 
as  long  as  he  lived — for  twelve  years.  It  was 
during  this  period  of  gloom,  when  I  was  be- 
tween three  and  four  years  old,  that  clear  con- 
sciousness of  self  dawned  on  me. 

As  the  years  passed  and  my  father  began  to 
take  hold  on  life  again,  his  children  became 
more  companions  to  him.  The  awe  and  fear 
of  him  diminished  more  and  more,  but  the  love 
and  reverence  increased  to  greater  and  greater 
passionateness.  But  his  paroxysms  of  gloom 
never  entirely  disappeared  until  his  two  eldest 
children,  William  and  Jane,  married  and  had 
children  of  their  own.  His  joy  in  his  grand- 
children was  boundless;  it  was  a  rejuvenation 
to  him. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  lonely  life,  in  order 
to  divert  his  thoughts  from  his  grief,  he  fitted 
up  several  rooms  in  the  attic,  especially  one 
large  one,  as  a  chemical  laboratory.    Day  after 

7 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

day,  and  sometimes  all  day,  when  not  too  much 
busied  in  the  administration  of  his  large  plan- 
tation, he  occupied  himself  with  experimenting 
there.  I  remember  vividly  how,  when  permitted 
to  be  present,  we  boys  followed  him  about  silent- 
ly and  on  tiptoe ;  how  we  would  watch  the  mys- 
terious experiments ;  with  what  awe  his  furnaces 
and  chauffers,  his  sand-baths,  matrasses,  and 
alembics,  and  his  precipitations  filled  us.  Al- 
though these  experiments  were  undertaken  in 
the  first  instance  to  divert  his  mind  from  his 
sorrow,  yet  his  profound  knowledge  of  chem- 
istry, his  deep  interest  and  persistence,  certain- 
ly eventuated  in  important  discoveries.  Thus 
diversion  gradually  ripened  into  intellectual  de- 
light. 

It  was  during  this  time  that  he  fell  into  a 
low  state  of  health  without  any  assignable  cause. 
After  some  time  he  determined  to  try  vegeta- 
rianism, and  for  two  years  he  absolutely  avoided 
flesh  in  any  form.  Feeling  no  effect,  however, 
he  returned  to  the  moderate  use  of  meat,  and 
promptly  recovered.  His  ill-health,  I  am  sure, 
was  brought  on,  not  by  any  fumes  of  the  labora- 
tory, as  he  imagined,  but  from  anguish  for  the 
loss  of  his  wife. 

My  father  always  attended  personally  to  his 
8 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

place,  on  foot  in  winter,  when  living  on  the  plan- 
tation, on  horseback  when  the  family  was  at  the 
summer  retreat,  Jonesville,  about  three  miles 
away.  But  during  the  period  of  his  ill-health 
he  was  not  able  to  attend  to  the  duties  of  the 
plantation  and  about  two  hundred  slaves,  so  for 
a  year  employed  an  overseer,  the  only  one  he 
ever  had. 

Always  fond  of  nature  and  science  in  all  de- 
partments, he  now  devoted  himself  more  and 
more  ardently  to  the  making  and  cultivation  of 
a  botanical  and  floral  garden.  About  an  acre 
of  ground  was  set  apart  for  this  purpose  and 
much  of  his  time,  mornings  and  afternoons,  was 
spent  there,  "Daddy  Dick,"  a  faithful  and  in- 
telligent old  negro  being  employed  under  his 
constant  supervision  in  keeping  it  in  order. 
This  large  garden  was  the  pride  of  my  father. 
Every  day  after  his  breakfast,  he  took  his  last 
cup  of  coffee — his  second  or  third — in  his  hand, 
and  walked  about  the  garden,  enjoying  its 
beauty  and  neatness  and  giving  minute  direc- 
tions for  its  care  and  improvement.  His  espe- 
cial pride  was  four  or  five  camellia-trees — I  say 
trees,  for  even  then  they  were  a  foot  in  diameter 
and  fifteen  feet  high.  I  have  seen  the  largest 
of  these,  a  double  white,  with  a  thousand  bios- 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

sohis  open  at  once,  each  blossom  four  or  five 
inches  in  diameter,  snow-white  and  double  to 
the  center.  In  the  vicinity  of  a  large  city  such 
a  tree  would  now  be  worth  a  fortune,  but  my 
father  never  thought — no  one  did  then — of  mak- 
ing any  profit  from  his  flowers ;  it  was  sufficient 
to  enjoy  their  beauty. 

This  garden  was  the  joy  and  delight  of  my 
childhood,  and  continued  to  be  such  through  as- 
sociation, long  after  his  death  and  after  it  had 
lost  its  beauty  for  want  of  his  care.  In  1896 
I  visited  the  old  place  again.  It  was  a  mere 
wilderness,  but  the  old  camellia-tree  still  stood 
covered  with  blossoms.  I  measured  its  girth; 
ten  inches  from  the  ground,  where  the  great 
branches  came  off,  it  was  fifty-six  inches  in  cir- 
cumference. 

I  have  said  that  my  father  was  devoted  to 
science.  His  knowledge  of  botany  and  chemis- 
try was  really  profound.  His  beautiful  garden 
became  celebrated  all  over  the  United  States, 
and  botanists  from  the  North  and  from  Europe 
came  to  visit  it,  always  receiving  welcome  and 
entertainment,  sometimes  for  weeks,  at  his 
house.  On  such  occasions  he  would  plan  and 
execute  long  excursions  in  the  Altamaha  region 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  rare  plants,  the 

10 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

places  of  which  he  well  knew.  These  excursions 
often  occupied  several  days,  and  he  stayed  at 
night  at  the  cabins  of  the  poor  "  crackers,"  all 
of  whom  delighted  to  entertain  him  and  his 
friends.  From  these  excursions  he  would  re- 
turn laden  with  treasures  that  he  would  help 
his  botanical  friends  to  pack  and  send  off. 

As  the  Altamaha  region  was  a  comparative- 
ly unexplored  field,  he  discovered  many  new 
plants,  but  he  gave  them  freely  to  his  scientific 
friends.  He  loved  nature  and  truth  purely  for 
the  sake  of  nature  and  truth,  and  never  thought 
of  any  personal  advantage.  I  remember,  more- 
over, that  he  entirely  ignored  the  custom  of  the 
botanists  of  that  time  and  anticipated  the  natural 
classification.  He  always  preferred  to  speak  of 
plants  in  connection  with  the  natural  rather 
than  the  Linnsean  system.  In  speaking  of  a 
plant,  he  would  give  the  Linnasan  order,  and  then 
add,  "  But  it  belongs  to  a  natural  order  of  such 
a  plant,"  giving  the  typical  genus. 

Although  chemistry  and  botany  were  his 
chief  love,  he  was  almost  equally  acquainted 
with  other  departments  of  science,  especially 
zoology,  physics,  and  mathematics.  We  boys 
were  passionately  fond  of  gunning  and  fishing; 
stimulated   by   his    example   and   precept,   we 

11 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

brought  everything  strange  or  remarkable  to 
him  to  identify  and  name,  which  he  easily  did 
by  the  use  of  his  scientific  library,  ample  for 
that  time.  His  delight  and  skill  in  mathematics 
were  remarkable.  I  remember  in  particular  his 
joy  in  working  out  mathematical  puzzles,  espe- 
cially magic  squares.  When  my  brother  Wil- 
liam was  in  college,  he  sent  my  father  several 
questions  in  mathematics  that  had  proved  too 
hard  for  the  professor.  He  promptly  solved 
them  and  sent  back  the  results. 

With  such  predominance  of  scientific  tastes, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  he  was  correspond- 
ingly deficient  in  the  classics.  But  not  so,  for 
he  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  these  also. 
He  read  Latin  at  sight  almost  as  readily  as  he 
did  English.  Indeed  I  have  never  known  any 
one  who  used  Latin  so  nearly  as  a  native  would. 

So  much  for  the  intellectual  character  of 
Louis  Le  Conte.  But  in  moral  character  he  was 
no  less  remarkable.  Indeed  the  best  qualities 
of  character  were  constantly  exercised  and  cul- 
tivated in  the  just,  wise,  and  kindly  manage- 
ment of  his  two  hundred  slaves.  The  negroes 
were  strongly  attached  to  him,  and  proud  of 
calling  him  master.  He  cared  not  only  for  their 
physical  but  also  for  their  moral  and  religious 

12 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

welfare.  Some  of  the  most  distinguished  cler- 
gymen of  that  time,  among  whom  I  may  men- 
tion Dr.  Charles  Colcock  Jones,  the  distin- 
guished Presbyterian,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Law, 
the  no  less  distinguished  Baptist,  devoted  them- 
selves in  pure  charity  to  missionary  work 
among  the  negroes.  They  established  religious 
organizations  on  every  plantation,  with  their 
"  Praise  Houses  "  (houses  of  worship  built  by 
the  planters)  and  negro  preachers  ordained  by 
the  missionary ;  and  visited  them  regularly,  go- 
ing from  plantation  to  plantation.  As  the  serv- 
ices were  conducted  at  night,  the  minister  was 
entertained  by  the  planter ;  and  I  remember  fre- 
quent visits  of  this  kind  by  Dr.  Jones. 

The  planters  found  it  necessary,  however,  to 
supplement  these  religious  influences  with  more 
forcible  methods  of  resistance.  To  prevent 
roaming  and  drunkenness,  they  formed  them- 
selves into  a  mounted  police  that  regularly 
patrolled  the  county  by  night  and  arrested  all 
who  were  without  passes.  Prohibition  laws 
against  the  retail  of  spirits  were  enacted  and 
strictly  enforced.  There  never  was  a  more 
orderly,  nor  apparently  a  happier,  working  class 
than  the  negroes  of  Liberty  County  as  I  knew 
them  in  my  boyhood. 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

My  father  was  active  in  all  these  methods 
of  moral  improvement  and  of  moral  restraint, 
but  his  deeply  religious  and  actively  sympa- 
thetic nature  showed  itself  in  other  and  far 
more  unmistakable  ways,  especially  in  his 
personal  charities  among  the  poor  "  pine  knock- 
ers "  in  the  neighboring  pine  barrens  of  Mcin- 
tosh County.  These  "  pine  knockers,"  or  "  crack- 
ers," were  a  degraded  and  absolutely  unpro- 
gressive  people.  They  lived  in  the  most  meager 
way  by  planting  small  patches  of  corn,  potatoes, 
and  cotton;  and  supplemented  this  means  of 
livelihood  by  shooting  deer,  and  often  the  cattle 
of  their  wealthier  neighbors  in  Liberty  County. 
They  were  a  pale,  cadaverous  people  from  want 
of  sufficient  and  proper  food.  My  father,  as 
has  already  been  said,  was  educated  as  a  physi- 
cian, although  he  never  practised  medicine  ex- 
cept on  his  own  plantation  and  among  these 
poor  people.  Knowing  that  they  could  not  em- 
ploy a  physician,  he  never  refused  to  respond 
to  their  calls  for  help,  sometimes  riding  twenty 
miles,  carrying  his  own  food  and  staying  over 
night  in  their  miserable  cabins.  In  several  cases 
of  chronic  trouble  in  children,  due  to  bad  food, 
clothing,  and  housing,  he  took  them  to  his  own 
home,  kept  them  for  months,  and  sent  them  back 

14 


ANCESTEY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

cured.  For  all  this  he  never  thought  of  receiv- 
ing any  return. 

My  mother,  as  already  said,  I  can  not  re- 
member. All  that  I  know  of  her  appearance  is 
derived  from  a  silhouette  profile,  said  to  be  an 
excellent  likeness.  It  showed  a  strong  face, 
with  high  features  and  noble  and  refined  char- 
acter. A  mother's  love  I  never  consciously 
knew.  But  on  her  death  all  a  mother's  love  was 
transferred  to  my  father,  and  he  was  henceforth 
both  father  and  mother  to  his  children.  Yet 
who  can  say  how  much  I  owe  to  my  mother; 
how  much  of  character  may  be  formed  before 
three  years  of  age,  before  the  utmost  limit  of 
memory?  Who  can  tell  how  much  we  receive 
by  heredity?  My  mother  was  passionately  fond 
of  art,  and  especially  of  music ;  who  can  say  how 
much  her  cradle  songs  may  have  impressed  my 
innermost  spiritual  nature?  My  father's  tastes, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  mainly  scientific.  To 
this  double  inheritance,  I  suppose  I  owe  my 
equal  fondness  for  science  and  art. 

"  Woodmanston  "  was  situated  on  Bulltown 
Swamp,  the  dividing  line  between  Liberty  and 
Mcintosh  Counties,  the  house  itself  being  on  a 
kind  of  knoll  that  became  an  island  at  high 
water.      The    situation    was    not    healthy    for 

15 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

whites,  and  hence  arose  the  necessity  for  sum- 
mer retreats.  In  spite  of  the  retreat  the  chil- 
dren all  suffered  more  or  less  from  malarial 
fevers,  which  were  sometimes  hard  to  break.  Ill 
health  in  my  case  led  to  contemplative,  reflect- 
ive, introspective  habits.  From  this  cause  or 
from  natural  tendency,  I  early  became  interested 
in  philosophical  subjects. 

The  community,  I  have  said,  was  intensely 
religious.  My  mother — "  one  of  the  us  " — was 
also  deeply  and  genuinely  pious.  Although  so 
sympathetic,  self-sacrificing,  and  in  the  truest 
sense  religious,  my  father  was  not  pious  in  the 
ordinaiy  sense.  Caring  little  for  observances, 
forms  of  doctrine,  or  church  organizations,  he 
never  "  professed  religion  "  or  connected  him- 
self with  any  church.  Yet  on  his  death  I  heard 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Axson  say  in  the  funeral  sermon 
that  he  never  knew  any  one  who  in  his  life  so 
exemplified  the  principles  of  Christianity;  that 
in  his  opinion  he  was  in  the  truest  sense  a 
Christian.  He  was  undoubtedly  far  ahead  of 
his  time  in  his  religious  views,  being  liberal 
without  being  skeptical.  He  was,  however,  reti- 
cent on  the  subject,  because  he  feared  he  would 
be  misunderstood.  One  concession  he  made  to 
his  wife:  about  nine  o'clock  every  night,  before 

16 


o 


Pi 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

the  children  were  sent  to  bed,  he  read  aloud  a 
chapter  from  the  Bible.  This  he  kept  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death.  I  remember  well  the  pride 
and  alacrity  with  which  one  of  us  boys,  taking 
turns,  would  bring  the  big  family  Bible  and  lay 
it  on  the  table  before  him. 

Such  were  the  influences  under  which  my 
own  religious  nature  grew.  Hence  it  was  that 
I  was  first  orthodox  of  the  orthodox;  later,  as 
thought  germinated  and  grew  apace,  I  adopted 
a  liberal  interpretation  of  orthodoxy;  then, 
gradually  I  became  unorthodox;  then  in  deep 
sympathy  with  the  most  liberal  movement  of 
Christian  thought;  and  finally,  to  some  extent, 
a  leader  in  that  movement. 

Of  all  the  influences  determining  my  char- 
acter and  tastes,  the  personality  of  my  father 
was  by  far  the  most  potent.  Next  in  importance 
to  this,  undoubtedly,  was  the  freedom  of  my 
boyhood  life  in  a  country  abounding  in  game  of 
all  sorts.  This  developed  a  passionate  fondness 
for  nature  in  all  departments  and  for  field 
sports  of  all  kinds,  with  bow  and  arrow,  with 
gun,  and  with  fishing-line.  As  I  grew  older  this 
love  of  nature  took  on  higher  forms ;  first  in  the 
study  of  ornithology,  and  later  in  camping 
trips,  undertaken  partly  in  the  spirit  of  adven- 
3  17 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ture   and  partly  for   the  geological   study   of 
mountains. 

I  linger  with  especial  delight  on  this  early 
plantation  life,  far  from  town  and  the  busy  hum 
of  men ;  a  life  that  has  passed  forever.  It  will 
live  for  a  time  in  the  memory  of  a  few,  and 
then  only  in  history.  It  was,  indeed,  a  very 
paradise  for  boys.  My  father  never  forbade  us 
the  use  of  firearms,  but  merely  counseled  their 
careful  use.  The  result  justified  the  wisdom  of 
his  method.  Four  of  us  boys  with  guns  on  our 
shoulders  all  the  time,  and  yet  never  an  acci- 
dent !  Guns  there  were  a  plenty  in  the  house — 
guns  of  all  kinds,  rifles  and  shot-guns,  single- 
barreled  guns  and  double-barreled  guns,  mus- 
kets and  sporting  guns,  big  guns,  little  guns, 
and  medium-sized  guns,  long  guns  and  short 
guns.  There  was  a  complete  armory  of  them 
up-stairs  in  one  of  the  closets,  besides  several 
in  the  hands  of  the  most  trusty  negro  men  to 
shoot  game  and  wild  animals  of  prey  and  crop- 
destroying  birds.  There  must  have  been  at 
least  twenty  of  them.  How  they  came  there 
was  first  revealed  to  us  by  a  garrulous  old  negro 
man  named  Samson.  The  story  as  told  by  him, 
and  in  all  essentials  afterward  confirmed  by  my 
father,  was  as  follows : 

18 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

My  grandfather,  John  Eatton  Le  Conte,  as 
already  stated,  was  accustomed  to  spend  his 
winters  on  his  Georgia  plantation  and  his  sum- 
mers in  New  York.  At  this  time — soon  after 
the  War  of  the  Revolution — the  Indian  country 
was  just  over  the  Altamaha  River,  about  fifteen 
to  twenty  miles  from  the  plantation.  The  in- 
tervening country,  now  Mcintosh  County,  was 
pine  barren  and  almost  uninhabited.  It  was  a 
sort  of  neutral  ground,  a  no-man's  land.  The 
Indians  had  several  times  raided  the  rich  plan- 
tations of  Liberty,  and  escaped  again  into  the 
Indian  territory  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alta- 
maha. Their  success  had  emboldened  them,  and 
as  our  plantation  was  on  the  south  border  of 
Liberty  it  was  peculiarly  exposed. 

My  grandfather  had  prepared  for  attack  by 
building  a  stockade  and  fortifying  it  with  old 
revolutionary  muskets,  and  had  given  directions 
to  the  negroes  to  seek  shelter  there  in  case  of 
a  raid.  One  day  about  noon,  the  negroes  came 
running  toward  the  fort  in  great  alarm,  closely 
pursued  by  the  Indians  to  the  very  door.  Most 
of  the  negroes  got  in  safely,  but  one  powerful 
negro  man  was  seized  by  two  Indians  just  at 
the  door.  In  the  struggle,  all  fell  together  to 
the  ground,  the  negro  beneath.  My  grandfather 

19 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

fired  a  load  of  buckshot  at  the  struggling  mass ; 
the  two  Indians  were  instantly  killed,  but  the 
negro  springing  up  entered  the  fort.  He  had 
been  grazed  across  the  chest  by  a  shot,  but  not 
hurt.  Then  commenced  a  regular  battle,  lasting 
two  or  three  hours,  the  Indians,  several  hun- 
dreds, fighting  with  their  bows  and  arrows,  and 
the  garrison  with  muskets.  I  wish  I  could  give 
in  Samson's  words  a  description  of  the  battle — 
how  my  grandfather  with  a  few  of  the  bravest 
negroes,  stood  at  the  loopholes,  fired,  handed 
back  the  empty  muskets  to  be  reloaded,  took 
loaded  ones  in  their  stead,  and  fired  again.  Fi- 
nally, the  Indian  chief,  in  his  eagerness  to  en- 
courage his  braves  to  storm  the  fort,  unwarily 
exposed  himself,  and  was  brought  down  with  a 
broken  leg  by  a  shot.  The  Indians  immediately 
made  a  bold  dash,  carried  off  their  chief,  took 
horses  from  the  stable,  bound  the  chief  on  one  of 
them,  and  hastily  fled,  carrying  their  dead  and 
wounded  with  them.  They  did  not  go,  however, 
without  booty.  According  to  Samson's  account, 
three  negro  women  and  Samson  himself  were 
captured  before  they  could  reach  the  fort,  and 
were  carried  away  by  the  Indians  in  their  flight. 
The  Liberty  troop  hearing  of  the  raid,  organ- 
ized and  pursued,  but,  as  they  supposed,  never 

20 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

overtook  them.  Samson,  however,  told  a  dif- 
ferent story.  According  to  him,  they  did  over- 
take the  Indians,  but  these  lay  concealed  and 
watched  the  troop  pass  by,  taking  the  precau- 
tion, however,  of  grasping  the  throats  of  their 
prostrate  prisoners  with  one  hand,  while  they 
brandished  a  glittering  knife  with  the  other. 

Samson  was  in  the  Indian  territory  for 
three  years,  and  then  came  back  to  the  planta- 
tion and  was  made  one  of  the  head  men  there. 
He  says  the  Indians  treated  their  captives  well, 
quite  as  equals,  especially  the  women,  whom 
they  took  as  wives.  These  never  came  back,  be- 
cause they  had  children  to  care  for.  Samson, 
according  to  his  own  story,  ran  away  several 
times,  and  was  recaptured;  but  finally  succeed- 
ed in  getting  back.  In  telling  this  story,  which 
he  did  very  often,  the  old  man  would  become 
so  excited  that  the  foam  would  fly  from  his  lips. 
A  short  account  of  this  raid  is  given  in  White's 
Historical  Collections  of  Georgia,  but  all  the  in- 
teresting details  given  by  Samson  were  un- 
known, and  are  now  given  for  the  first  time. 

Concerning  my  education,  the  really  best  I 
got  was  informal.  First  and  most  important  of 
all  was  the  daily  companionship  of  my  father. 
Next  to  this  was  the  many  mechanical  opera- 

21 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tions  going  on  continually  on  the  plantation ; 
and  third,  the  unlimited  freedom  of  the  planta- 
tion life  far  away  from  city  ways,  and  directed 
only  by  a  wise  father.  Of  the  first  of  these,  I 
have  already  said  enough.  A  few  words  now  on 
the  two  others. 

In  these  early  days,  everything  was  done  on 
the  plantation.  There  were  tanneries  in  which 
the  hides  of  slaughtered  cattle  were  made  into 
leather.  There  was  a  shoemaker's  shop,  where 
from  the  leather  made  on  the  place  the  shoes 
for  all  the  negroes  were  made  by  negro  shoe- 
makers. There  were  blacksmith  and  carpenter 
shops,  where  all  the  work  needed  on  the  plan- 
tation was  done  by  negro  blacksmiths  and  car- 
penters. All  the  rice  raised  on  the  plantation 
was  thrashed,  winnowed,  and  beaten  by  ma- 
chinery made  on  the  spot,  driven  by  horse- 
power, and  the  horses  by  negro  boys.  All  the 
cotton  was  ginned  and  cleaned  and  packed 
on  the  place.  As  the  cotton  was  Sea  Island, 
or  long-staple,  Whitney's  invention  was  of  no 
use,  and  only  roller  gins  could  be  used,  at 
first,  foot-gins,  and  later  horse-gins.  For  the 
same  reason — viz.,  the  fineness  of  the  staple — 
the  cotton  was  all  packed  by  hand  and  foot,  the 
packer  standing  in  the  suspended  bag.  All  these 

22 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

operations  of  tanning,  shoemaking,  blacksmith- 
ing,  carpentering,  the  thrashing,  winnowing, 
and  beating  of  rice,  and  the  ginning,  cleaning, 
and  packing  of  cotton,  were  watched  with  in- 
tensest  interest  by  us  boys,  and  often  we  gave 
a  helping  hand  ourselves.  There  was  always 
especial  interest  in  the  ginning  of  cotton  by  foot 
and  the  thrashing  of  the  rice  by  flail,  because 
these  were  carried  on  by  great  numbers  work- 
ing together,  the  one  by  women,  and  the  other 
by  men,  and  always  with  singing  and  shouting 
and  keeping  time  with  the  work.  The  negroes 
themselves  enjoyed  it  hugely. 

Far  away  from  any  city  as  we  were,  what- 
ever we  wanted  we  were  compelled  to  make.  If 
we  wanted  marbles,  we  made  them,  and  excellent 
marbles  they  were.  If  we  wanted  kites,  we 
made  them,  and  none  better  were  ever  made. 
We,  of  course,  wanted  bows  and  arrows — we 
therefore  made  them,  as  fine  bows  and  as  ex- 
quisitely finished  arrows  as  I  have  ever  seen. 
We  had  an  ambition  to  have  pistols;  we  made 
them  also,  and  here  it  may  be  interesting  to 
trace  the  evolution  of  the  pistol  as  I  observed 
it  myself.  First,  little  lead  cannons  were  cast 
in  a  paper  mold  over  a  rod  of  wood.  Then 
these  were  mounted  as  lead  pistols,  touched  off 

23 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

by  a  sort  of  match-lock.  This  was  as  far  as 
most  of  ns  went ;  but  one  of  my  brothers,  Lewis, 
had  remarkable  mechanical  talent.  Not  satisfied 
with  such  crude  results,  he  continued  to  improve 
his  firearms.  First,  he  cast  the  lead  on  iron 
gas  tubes,  drilled  out  to  smooth  bore.  Then  he 
improved  these  by  fitting  to  the  gas  tube  a 
breeching  of  iron,  with  chamber  and  touch-hole 
drilled  out,  and  casting  lead  over  all;  then  he 
enlarged  the  pistol  to  rifle  size,  adding  lock, 
spring,  hammer,  and  nipple,  all  of  which  he 
made  himself;  then  he  mounted  this  barrel  on 
a  beautiful  stock  of  bird's-eye  maple,  with 
guard  and  trigger  and  grease-box  complete,  and 
trimmed  it  with  an  alloy  of  lead,  zinc,  and  anti- 
mony of  his  own  manufacture.  The  whole 
was  beautifully  chased  and  engraved  with  tools 
of  his  own  making.  The  final  result  was  as 
beautiful  a  rifle  as  I  ever  saw,  and  as  efficient 
too.  With  this  rifle  I  have  seen  him  bring  down 
a  squirrel  from  the  top  of  a  hundred-foot  tree, 
with  a  bullet  through  its  brain. 

This  same  brother  when  a  boy  twelve  years 
old  made  the  most  exquisite  bows  and  arrows, 
and  I  have  known  him  to  bring  home  to  break- 
fast eight  or  ten  birds  as  the  fruits  of  his  won- 
derful archery. 

24 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

Still  another,  and  most  important  part,  of 
this  informal  education  was  the  free  plantation 
life  with  unlimited  game  and  fish.  As  has  been 
said,  if  anything  unusual  was  got,  whether  fish 
or  fowl  or  reptile  or  mammal  or  even  insect, 
we  were  sure  to  bring  it  home  for  father  to 
name.  This  kind  of  life  is  an  admirable  culture 
for  a  boy.  It  not  only  contributes  to  physical 
health  but  also  to  mental  health,  by  continual 
contact  with  nature  and  by  cultivation  of  the 
powers  of  observation.  In  addition,  it  culti- 
vates in  an  admirable  way  quick  perception, 
prompt  decision,  and  persistent  energy  and  pa- 
tience in  pursuit.  In  the  ardor  of  duck-hunting, 
I  have  been  compelled  to  creep  on  hands  and 
knees  for  hours  to  secure  the  quarry. 

I  know  well  that  there  is  much  to  be  said 
against  the  destruction  of  life  for  sport.  I  felt 
this  myself,  even  as  a  boy.  I  well  remember 
that  at  the  age  of  eleven,  when  I  first  began  to 
carry  a  gun,  one  of  my  earliest  triumphs  was 
that  of  bringing  down  a  gray  squirrel  from  the 
top  of  a  tall  tree.  But  my  triumph  was  quickly 
changed  into  keenest  remorse  when  I  saw  it 
convulsed  and  dying  at  my  feet.  Habit,  excite- 
ment of  the  chase,  fulness  of  physical  health 
and   animal   spirits,   dulled,   but  never  wholly 

25 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

quenched,  my  keen  sympathy  with  animal  suf- 
fering. I  was  taught  by  my  father,  and  im- 
pelled by  my  own  nature,  never  to  destroy  life 
for  mere  sport.  Sport  enough  there  was,  but 
always  in  accomplishing  some  ulterior  and  use- 
ful purpose. 

This  was  in  boyhood;  now,  in  my  old  age, 
with  decline  of  intense  vitality,  all  the  tender- 
ness of  my  sympathy  with  animal  life  returns 
in  full  force.  I  can  no  longer  take  the  least 
pleasure  in  shooting  or  in  seeing  shooting,  not 
only  because  the  pleasure  of  physical  activity 
is  less,  but  also  because  my  sympathy  with  all 
life  is  more  keen. 

Many  who  may  read  the  above  will  conclude 
that  I  am  an  awii-vivisectionist.  Not  so.  Un- 
doubtedly our  sympathy  with  life  ought  to  be 
universal,  and  the  more,  the  better.  Yes,  but  it 
ought  to  be  in  exact  proportion  to  the  grade  of  life. 
I  would,  I  ought  to,  destroy  a  thousand  fleas  for 
the  comfort  of  a  faithful  dog.  So,  also,  I  ought 
to  be  willing  to  destroy  a  thousand  dogs  for  the 
health  and  well-being  of  man.  Of  course  it 
should  be  with  the  least  suffering  possible  un- 
der the  circumstances.  But  remember,  that 
suffering,  too,  is  in  proportion  to  the  grade  of  life. 
It  is  not  true  that 

26 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

The  poor  beetle  that  we  tread  upon, 

In  corporal  sufferance  finds  a  pang  as  great 

As  when  a  giant  dies. 

Other  sports,  less  objectionable,  we  bad  in 
plenty.  When  I  was  about  ten  years  old,  the 
three  younger  boys,  John,  Lewis,  and  I,  under- 
took, with  the  help  of  an  intelligent  and  inge- 
nious negro  man,  Primus,  and  with  the  permis- 
sion of  father  to  use  Primus  for  this  purpose, 
to  make  a  fine  dugout  canoe  out  of  a  large  cy- 
press log  three  feet  in  diameter.  We  were  sev- 
eral months  making  it,  but  when  finished,  it  was 
a  large  and  beautiful  canoe.  The  amount  of  joy 
we  got  out  of  that  canoe  was  incalculable. 
Whole  days  were  spent  in  the  exploration  of 
the  great  swamp  on  which  the  plantation  was 
situated.  I  am  sure  we  felt,  on  a  small  scale,  all 
the  joy  and  pride  of  discoverers  of  unknown 
lands.  During  the  times  of  high  water  by  win- 
ter freshets,  the  rice-fields,  at  that  time  bare  of 
rice,  formed  a  splendid  sheet  of  water  two  miles 
long  and  half  a  mile  wide.  We  sometimes 
rigged  a  mast  and  sail,  but  as  the  canoe  was  not 
suited  to  this  kind  of  propulsion,  we  often  suf- 
fered shipwreck  in  water  two  or  three  feet  deep. 
But  to  a  boy  this  only  gave  zest  to  the  enjoy- 
ment.   Much  of  our  duck-hunting  was  done  in 

27 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

this  canoe,  and  I  became  very  expert  in  the  use 
of  the  paddle  and  in  the  management  of  a  canoe. 

As  might  be  supposed,  in  a  warm  climate 
and  by  an  abundance  of  water,  swimming,  too, 
was  a  favorite  sport.  I  very  early  learned  to 
swim.  I  was  a  good  swimmer  at  ten;  and  in 
early  manhood,  I  never  knew  a  better  swimmer, 
and  but  few  equal  to  myself.  Even  now  at 
seventy-seven,  my  swimming  is  a  marvel  to  the 
onlooker.  I  do  not  at  all  exaggerate  when  I  say 
that  to  me  swimming  is  still  as  easy,  and  I  think 
perhaps  a  little  easier,  than  walking.  The  rea- 
son is  obvious.  I  am  of  slender  frame,  long 
limbs,  small  bones,  and  large  lungs.  I  can  now 
throw  out  more  than  three  hundred  cubic  inches 
of  air.  The  specific  gravity  of  my  body  is  less 
than  that  of  water,  even  fresh  water.  I  can, 
therefore,  lie  motionless  floating  on  the  water, 
breathing  perfectly  naturally,  for  any  length  of 
time — I  believe  I  could  go  to  sleep.  Of  course 
then  the  least  exertion  properly  applied  pro- 
duces easy  and  graceful  locomotion. 

During  my  boyhood  there  were  on  the  plan- 
tation three  very  old  negroes  who  were  native 
Africans  and  remembered  their  African  home. 
They  were  Sessy,  a  little  old  man  bent  almost 
double;  Nancy,  an  old  woman  with  filed  teeth; 

28 


ANCESTRY,    PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

and  Charlotte,  who  left  Africa,  according  to  her 
own  account,  when  she  was  about  twelve.  All 
of  them,  of  course,  were  superannuated  and 
taken  care  of  without  any  remuneration.  Sessy 
was  extravagantly  fond  of  alligator  meat,  and 
always  begged  us  boys  to  bring  him  the  tails 
of  any  alligators  we  might  kill.  Small  alliga- 
tors, six  and  seven  feet  long,  abounded  in  the 
swamp,  and  we  never  failed  to  shoot  them 
whenever  we  could,  as  they  were  great  destroy- 
ers of  fish,  and,  although  we  cared  little  for 
them,  interfered  somewhat  with  our  swimming. 
Now  and  then  longer  and  more  dangerous  ones 
appeared;  the  largest  we  ever  killed  was  four- 
teen feet  long.  This  one  was  drawn  out  of  his 
hole  during  low  water  in  the  swamp,  by  a  hook 
attached  to  a  long  pole,  and  about  twenty-five 
negro  men  ahold  of  the  pole.  It  was  great 
sport,  and  I  often  afterward  told  the  story  to 
my  children. 

There  was  also  on  a  neighboring  plantation 
an  old  native  African  named  Philip,  who  was  a 
very  intelligent  man.  He  used  to  tell  us  all 
about  the  customs  and  religion  of  the  country 
from  which  he  came.  He  was  not  a  pagan,  but 
a  Mohammedan.  He  greatly  interested  us  by 
going  through  all  the  prayers  and  prostrations 

29 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

of  his  native  country.  He  also  gave  us  the  nu- 
merals up  to  twenty;  these  were,  of  course,  na- 
tive African,  not  Arabic.  They  were :  go,  dede, 
tata,  nigh,  ja,  ja  go,  ja  ded,  ja  tata,  ja  nigh, 
suppe,  suppa  go,  suppa  dede,  suppa  tata,  suppa 
nigh,  suppa  ja,  suppa  ja  go,  suppa  ja  dede, 
suppa  ja  tata,  suppa  ja  nigh.  It  is  seen  that 
they  counted  by  fives  and  not  by  tens,  as  we  do. 
As  to  formal  education,  all  the  schooling  I 
got  was  in  a  neighborhood  country  school,  of 
all  grades  and  both  sexes,  supported  by  four  or 
five  families,  and  of  the  most  desultory  kind. 
During  nine  years  of  schooling,  I  had  just  nine 
different  teachers.  Only  one  of  them  had  any 
special  influence  on  me,  and  that  was  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  who  afterward,  as  Governor  of  the 
State,  as  Eepresentative  in  Congress,  and  as 
Vice-President  of  the  Confederate  States,  re- 
ceived every  honor  that  his  State  could  con- 
fer on  him.  A  poor  boy,  he  received  his  col- 
legiate education  by  the  charity  of  a  church 
society  of  women.  He  commenced  life  as  a 
teacher,  and  for  two  years  I  had  the  privilege 
of  being  his  pupil.  His  appearance  at  that 
time  lives  in  my  memory.  He  used  to  join 
with  us  in  our  ball-playing.  I  see  him  now  in 
his   shirt-sleeves,   bat  in  hand,   with  his   tall, 

30 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

slender  form,  frail  and  thin  to  painful  meager- 
ness,  and  his  pale,  corpse-like  face.  How  he 
would  laugh  and  shake  his  gaunt  sides  when 
he  ma'de  a  good  strike,  and  still  more  when  we 
beat  him!  One  thing  about  him  is  especially- 
worthy  of  mention  as  influencing  his  pupils  for 
good,  his  utter  detestation  of  lying,  deceit,  and 
meanness  of  every  kind.  He  never  encouraged 
tale-bearing,  but  always  openly  reproved  it.  I 
remember  that  once  my  brother  Lewis  thrashed 
a  boy  of  his  own  size  severely,  and  was  caught 
in  the  act  by  the  teacher.  Both  boys  were,  of 
course,  brought  up  for  trial;  but  when  my 
brother  told  the  reason  why  he  beat  the  other 
boy,  viz.,  that  he  had  called  him  a  liar,  Stephens 
promptly  dismissed  the  case,  with  the  remark 
that  Lewis  was  perfectly  right.  Thus  he  cul- 
tivated in  his  scholars  the  sense  of  self-respect 
and  honor;  in  our  case  only  emphasizing  the 
influence  which  we  got  at  home. 

Since  those  early  days,  I  have  frequently 
met  Mr.  Stephens,  sometimes  in  Georgia,  some- 
times in  South  Carolina,  and  sometimes  in 
Washington,  and  in  all  these  places,  both  before 
and  after  the  war  between  the  States,  I  never 
met  him  but  he  referred  with  pleasure  to  the 
school  days  in  Liberty.    He  had  the  most  pro- 

31 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGKAPHY 

found  admiration  for  my  father.  Indeed  my 
father's  personality  was  a  revelation  to  him. 
He  had  never  seen  nor  conceived  of  anything 
like  it  before.  He  always  said  that  association 
with  him  had  profoundly  influenced  his  own 
character  and  career. 

The  school  course  in  those  days  was  ex- 
tremely simple.  Beyond  the  "  three  R's,"  it 
was  simply  Greek,  through  Xenophon;  Latin 
through  Livy;  and  mathematics,  through  alge- 
bra and  geometry.  I  took  pleasure  in  all  these, 
but  especially  in  the  mathematics.  The  school- 
house  (a  mere  rough  board  shanty,  put  up  by 
the  planters  interested)  was  small,  and  consist- 
ed of  but  one  room.  The  big  boys,  those  of 
twelve  years  and  upward,  were  allowed  in 
pleasant  weather  to  study  out  of  doors,  under 
the  trees  or  in  the  broom-grass,  according  to 
the  temperature.  Study,  therefore,  was  wholly 
without  oversight,  but  I  think  none  the  less 
faithful  on  that  account.  Education  being  along 
few  lines,  advanced  rapidly,  and  I  was  already 
well  prepared  for  the  freshman  class  of  college 
at  fourteen  years.  But  my  father  thought  that 
I  was  too  young  to  leave  home;  so  I  spent  an- 
other year  in  reviewing  all  my  Latin,  Greek, 
and  mathematics,  and  entered  college  at  fifteen. 

32 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

The  different  plantations  interested  in  the 
school  were  far  apart,  the  extremes  being  at  least 
three  miles.  We  boys  and  one  sister  had  to 
walk  about  a  mile  and  a  half.  We  took  with  us 
a  cold  dinner  in  a  tin  bucket,  therefore;  and  a 
negro  boy  always  accompanied  us  to  carry  the 
bucket,  and  to  wait  on  us  at  school,  if  necessary. 
The  negro  boy  always  considered  it  a  great 
honor  to  be  selected  from  among  the  five  or  six 
about  the  yard,  whose  business  it  was  to  cut  up 
wood  for  the  house  and  the  kitchen  and  to  wait 
on  the  cook.  This  attendance  of  a  servant  at 
school  was  considered  by  the  other  scholars  as  a 
rather  "  swell "  proceeding,  and  our  family  was 
unique  in  this  regard.  There  was  really  little 
or  no  service  rendered,  however,  the  boy  being 
rather  a  companion  in  our  sports,  and  usually 
a  great  favorite  with  all  the  scholars.  School 
continued  from  nine  in  the  morning  to  four  in 
the  afternoon,  with  an  interval  of  an  hour  at 
noon  for  lunch  and  games.  In  the  long  days  of 
May,  just  before  moving  to  the  summer  retreat, 
Jonesville,  we  boys  would  hurry  home,  in  order 
to  enjoy  a  little  gunning  or  fishing  or  swimming 
before  supper. 

I  might  give  many  details  of  these  school 
days  in  Liberty  that  it  seems  to  me  could  be 
4  33 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

made  as  interesting  as  Mr.  Hughes's  account  of 
Tom  Brown's  school-days  at  Rugby.  I  will 
give  only  one  incident,  showing  the  moral  tone 
of  the  school.  It  was  supported  mainly  by 
three  families,  the  Le  Contes,  the  Joneses,  and 
the  Varnedoes;  but  a  gentleman  living  at  Rice- 
boro,  about  a  mile  distant,  asked  the  priv- 
ilege of  sending  his  boy,  Rush,  to  it.  Rush 
was  a  handsome,  bright  boy  of  about  twelve,  in 
dress  almost  a  dandy  in  comparison  with  the 
rest  of  us.  He  had  been  at  other  schools,  where 
he  had  learned  some  bad  words  and  ways.  At 
first  he  was  on  his  good  behavior,  and  we  all 
liked  him,  but  gradually  he  began  to  use  bad 
language  in  the  presence  of  the  girls.  Finally, 
they  determined  to  punish  him.  The  boys  en- 
tered into  the  conspiracy  so  far  as  to  agree  to 
throw  him  down  on  his  face,  and  then  to  deliver 
him  over  to  the  girls.  After  we  had  thrown 
him,  a  very  strong  and  heavy  girl  laid  her 
weight  across  his  shoulders,  and  my  sister 
Anne  laid  the  switch  on  him  well,  until  in  the 
struggle,  he  got  hold  of  the  hand  of  the  girl  ly- 
ing across  his  shoulders  and  bit  it  severely,  and 
it  all  ended  in  a  good  cry  on  both  sides.  But 
it  cured  Rush  effectually  of  his  bad  habits,  and 
he  became  a  great  favorite.     Soon  after  this 

34 


ANCESTRY,   PARENTAGE,   BOYHOOD 

the  school  broke  up,  to  reassemble  at  Jonesville, 
and  we  saw  no  more  of  Rush.  This  was  about 
1835.  In  1863,  eighteen  years  afterward,  when 
Rush  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point  and  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  Confederate  army,  my  sister  met 
him  again,  and  they  talked  of  the  occurrence, 
he,  of  course,  bringing  up  the  subject.  On  this 
occasion  he  showed  his  manliness  by  acknowl- 
edging his  fault,  and  thanking  her  for  the  pun- 
ishment. It  taught  him  a  lesson,  he  said,  that 
he  had  never  forgotten. 

I  finished  my  schooling  in  December,  1837, 
and  was  ready  to  go  to  college.  Up  to  that  time 
Lewis  and  I  had  never  been  farther  from  the 
plantation  home  than  Midway  church,  eight 
miles.  Up  to  that  time  we  had  never  worn  any 
other  than  boy's  clothes — i.  e.,  round  jacket, 
limp,  open  collar,  soft  cap,  and  often  even  bare 
feet.  Now  we  had  to  put  on  the  toga  virilis :  swal- 
low-tailed coat,  stiff  stock,  and  beaver  hat.  It 
is  easy  to  imagine  how  queer  we  looked,  and 
how  awkward  we  felt  when  we  put  them  on  the 
first  time  to  go  to  church.  We  could  not  look 
at  one  another  without  bursting  out  with  laugh- 
ter. In  these  days  the  change  is  gradual,  but 
then  it  was  as  sudden  and  complete  as  the  meta- 
morphosis of  a  chrysalis  to  a  butterfly. 

35 


■fy 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

On  the  ninth  day  of  January,  1838,  the  very 
day  set  for  us  to  leave  for  college,  rny  father 
died,  after  a  short  illness  from  blood-poisoning, 
and  in  the  prime  of  life,  being  but  fifty-five 
years  and  five  months  old.  This  delayed  our 
departure  a  week. 

The  death  of  my  father  simply  stunned  me 
— I  was  dazed ;  I  could  not  realize  it.  I  remem- 
ber well  that  as  a  child  I  sometimes  lay  awake 
at  night  thinking  of  death,  not  so  much  of  my 
own  as  of  that  of  those  I  loved.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  I  might  possibly  be  able  to  bear  that 
of  brother  or  sister,  but  my  father's  possible 
death  filled  me  with  terror.  I  simply  shut  it 
out  of  my  mind  as  a  thing  I  could  not,  I  must 
not,  think  about.  And  now  the  thing  I  most 
dreaded  had  come  to  pass.  He  died  about  four 
in  the  afternoon.  All  the  next  day  I  wandered 
alone  in  the  beautiful,  beloved  garden  in  a  state 
of  stupor,  of  mental  paralysis.  He  was  buried 
in  Midway  churchyard  by  the  side  of  the  wife 
he  loved  so  devotedly.  I  have  already  alluded 
to  the  sermon  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Axson 
and  the  tribute  to  his  character. 


36 


CHAPTER   II 

COLLEGE   LIFE;     CHOICE   OF   A  PROFESSION; 
FIRST   LOVE 

On  the  16th  of  January,  1838,  we  started 
for  college,  John,  Lewis,  and  I.  John  had  al- 
ready been  in  college  three  years,  and  was  now 
in  the  senior  class.  Lewis  and  I  were  leaving 
home  for  the  first  time.  Everything  was  new 
to  me,  so  in  spite  of  my  recent  sorrow  I  was 
ashamed  to  find  my  spirits  rapidly  reviving. 
Though  Athens  was  but  three  hundred  miles 
distant,  we  were  a  week  on  the  road,  for  the 
journey  was  all  by  stage,  except  twenty  miles  on 
the  newly  made  Georgia  Railroad,  the  first  in  the 
State.  There  is  very  little  to  be  said  of  the  tedi- 
ous journey.  Two  incidents  on  the  way  may,  per- 
haps, be  worth  mentioning,  as  showing  my  ex- 
treme inexperience  and  the  moral  influences 
under  which  I  had  been  reared. 

We  took  stage  from  Savannah  to  Augusta, 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles.    There  was  but 

37 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

one  passenger  besides  ourselves,  a  well-dressed, 
courteous,  educated  gentleman,  returning  home 
from  a  visit  to  Savannah.  He  had  a  bottle  of 
brandy  along,  which  he  too  often  used.  He  was 
evidently  very  drunk,  and  became  more  and 
more  maudlin  as  we  went  on.  He  talked  inces- 
santly of  his  wife,  and  of  how  good  a  woman 
she  was — much  too  good  for  him;  and  as  he 
approached  his  house,  began  to  shed  tears. 
Finally,  about  a  mile  from  his  destination,  he 
declared  he  could  not  go  home;  he  could  not 
bear  that  his  wife  should  see  him  in  his  present 
condition.  He  stopped  the  stage,  bade  us  good- 
by  with  many  warnings  against  the  vice  that 
had  enslaved  him,  and  got  off  at  a  wayside  inn. 

I  mention  this  only  to  say  how  it  affected 
me;  instead  of  amusing  me,  as  it  might  some, 
it  made  me  inexpressibly  sad.  I  had  never  seen 
a  drunken  white  man  before.  I  had  seen  two 
or  three  drunken  negroes,  and  had  associated 
drunkenness  with  the  lowest  characters,  so  to 
see  a  respectable  man  debase  himself  thus  was 
to  me  awfully  tragic. 

Another  incident  may  be  worth  mention.  As 
we  approached  Athens,  belated  students  began 
to  drop  into  the  stage.  Belated  students  are 
not  apt  to  be  good  students ;  some  of  these  were 

38 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

among  the  worst  elements  in  college.  Seeing  at 
a  glance  that  we,  Lewis  and  I,  were  "  green- 
horns," they  took  delight  in  astonishing  us  with 
ribald  jests  and  obscene  songs.  I  was  not  at 
all  anmsed,  but  simply  disgusted.  I  may  add 
here,  that  for  me  the  so-called  dangers  of  col- 
lege life  never  existed.  I  saw  much  of  vicious 
conduct  among  students,  of  course,  but  whether 
such  example  injures  or  not,  depends  entirely 
upon  inheritance  and  early  training.  For  my- 
self, I  never  felt  the  least  temptation  to  join 
in  vicious  courses,  nor  have  I  ever  been  enticed 
by  others  to  join  in  such  courses.  College  stu- 
dents are  not  so  bad  as  some  seem  to  think. 
They  never  deliberately  try  to  lead  any  one 
astray.  They  simply  seek  congenial  associa- 
tion. Indeed  I  believe  that  college  is  the  safest 
of  all  places  for  young  men.  It  is  impossible 
always  to  remain  in  the  bomb-proof  of  home. 
One  must  go  out  into  the  world  and  fight  the 
battle  of  life.  Now,  college  young  men  are  a 
picked  set,  far  better  and  safer  than  the  aver- 
age. 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  I  had  no  tempta- 
tions in  college  worth  speaking  of.  In  fact, 
from  early  training,  and  especially  perhaps 
from  an  instinct  of  possible  danger,  I  avoided 

39 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

many  things  then  which  I  afterward  freely 
practised.  For  example,  during  my  whole  col- 
lege course  I  never  touched  a  card,  but  I  have 
used  them  ever  since  in  my  family  as  an  inno- 
cent source  of  amusement.  Again,  during  my 
whole  college  course  I  never  touched  intoxicat- 
ing drinks  of  any  kind.  Now  I  use  wine  on  my 
table  every  day,  and  never  forbid  it  to  my  chil- 
dren if  they  desire  it.  Instead  of  sowing  any 
wild  oats  and  reforming  afterward,  I  have 
steadily  become  more  and  more  liberal  in  my 
thoughts  and  feelings  about  such  things.  This 
is,  I  believe,  as  it  ought  to  be.  Vice  is  mere 
weakness;  evil  consists  in  mere  abuse;  but  in 
early  life  strength  is  not  yet  acquired.  Rational 
use  is  not  easy,  and  therefore  had  better  not  be 
attempted,  except  under  the  shelter  of  the  home 
roof. 

Brought  up  in  the  country  and  never  having 
wandered  farther  than  eight  miles  from  the 
family  hearthstone,  when  I  arrived  at  college 
my  thoughts  reverted  with  force  to  the  old 
home  and  its  surroundings,  and  for  several 
months  I  suffered  severely  from  nostalgia. 
My  yearning  for  the  old  plantation  and  the 
beautiful  garden  was  intense.  It  was  during 
this  time  that  I  received  letters  from  my  eldest 

40 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

brother  William  that  distressed  me  beyond 
measure.  One  of  the  noblest  of  men,  since 
my  father's  death  he  had  been  my  guardian, 
in  loco  parentis,  and  was  very  dear  to  me.  He 
was  a  thoroughly  religious  man,  and,  of  course, 
of  the  old  orthodox  type.  He  felt  deeply  the 
duty  of  improving  the  sad  occasion  of  my  fa- 
ther's death  to  urge  upon  me  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  "  fleeing  from  the  wrath  to  come,"  and 
now!  now!  He  alluded  with  distress  and 
doubt  to  my  father's  dying  outside  the  pale 
of  the  church.  I  have  one  letter  yet.  It  dis- 
tressed me  greatly  then;  it  distresses  me  to  read 
it  now,  but  for  very  different  reasons ;  then,  be- 
cause it  brought  vividly  before  me  the  dread 
hereafter ;  now,  because  of  the  mistaken  narrow- 
ness of  a  good  man.  I  appreciate  the  intense 
affection,  but  recognize  now  the  mistaken  meth- 
od. The  affection  was  all  his  own ;  the  mistaken 
method  belonged  to  the  time,  not  the  man.  My 
brother  was  one  of  the  strongest,  most  practical, 
most  rational  and  level-headed  men  I  ever  knew. 
During  a  religious  revival  in  the  churches, 
when  I  was  in  the  junior  class,  Lewis  and  I, 
with  a  large  number  of  other  students,  joined 
the  church.  Our  church  at  Midway,  Liberty 
County,  was  Puritan-Congregationalist.    There 

41 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

was  no  church  of  that  kind  at  Athens,  The 
nearest  to  it  in  faith  was  the  Presbyterian.  My 
friends  did  not  think  it  well  to  wait  until  we  re- 
turned to  Liberty;  the  Presbyterian  was  good 
enough.  Thus  it  was  that  I  became  a  Presby- 
terian instead  of  a  Congregationalist.  Indeed 
the  history  of  our  family  was  peculiar  in  this 
regard.  My  ancestors  were,  of  course,  Hugue- 
nots by  blood  and  faith.  In  early  colonial  times, 
the  Huguenot  church  in  New  York  became  at 
one  time  so  weak  financially,  that  it  was  com- 
pelled to  save  itself  from  extinction  by  putting 
itself  under  the  protection  of  the  English  Colo- 
nial Government,  and  became  Episcopal.  It  so 
remained  ever  after  in  New  York.  The  old 
Huguenot  church,  in  which  are  registered  the 
births,  deaths,  and  marriages  of  my  ancestors 
back  to  the  original  Guillaume,  the  "  Eglise  de 
St.  Esprit,"  is  still  a  French  Episcopal  church. 
On  coming  to  Georgia,  where  there  was  no  Epis- 
copal church,  my  father  attended  regularly  the 
Congregational  church  at  Midway,  of  which  my 
mother  was  a  member,  and  of  which  my  elder 
brother  and  sister  also  became  members.  My 
father  never  connected  himself  with  the  church, 
although  all  the  children  were  baptized  there. 
Circumstances,    already    mentioned,    connected 

42 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

Lewis  and  me  with  the  Presbyterian.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  that  with  such  a  family  history 
I  care  little  for  denominational  differences.  Of 
my  own  children,  one  is  a  Presbyterian,  two 
are  Episcopalians,  and  one  not  a  member  of 
any  church,  and  that  one  is  as  good,  for  all  I 
can  see,  as  any  of  them. 

This  revival,  and  my  union  with  the  church, 
was  undoubtedly  a  very  great  crisis  in  my  life. 
If  there  ever  was  a  case  of  sudden,  almost  mi- 
raculous conversion,  mine  was  one.  I  passed 
through  all  the  stages  described  in  such  cases — 
a  period  of  great  distress,  of  earnest  prayer,  of 
exercise  of  faith,  followed  by  a  sudden  sense  of 
acceptance,  an  intense  ecstatic  joy  for  deliver- 
ance, and  a  trust  in  and  love  of  the  Deliverer. 
The  sense  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man  was  vivid  and  full  of  de- 
light. Life  took  on  a  new  and  glorious  signifi- 
cance. All  men  became  dearer  to  me,  and  even 
nature  assumed  a  new  and  more  beautiful  ap- 
pearance. Literally  there  was  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  earth.  The  sky  was  never  before  so  blue, 
the  clouds  so  grandly  massy  and  white,  the 
grass  so  freshly  green,  nor  the  stars  so  bright. 
The  sense  of  joy  was  so  great  that  my  heart 
seemed  to  swell  almost  to  bursting. 

43 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

But  the  real  permanent  change  was  a  sense 
of  deliverance  from  the  bondage  of  the  fear  of 
death  and  the  hereafter,  which,  under  the  spell 
of  the  old  orthodoxy,  had  always,  in  thoughtful 
moments,  oppressed  me.  My  spirit  was  set 
free.  I  was  now  the  child  of  God  and  the  brother 
of  Jesus.  I  had  now  a  really  noble  object  in 
life,  an  ideal  to  be  sought,  an  evil  to  be  fought 
against.  This  I  have  never  lost.  It  has  been 
the  most  powerful  element  in  the  formation  of 
character  and  the  determination  of  conduct. 
However  much  I  may  have  changed  my  opinion 
as  to  the  miraculousness  of  the  process,  this 
change  of  relation  toward  the  spiritual  world 
has  remained  as  an  eternal  heritage.  Delusion ! 
some  will  say.  No,  it  was  the  old  fear  that  was 
the  delusion.  The  change  was  not  the  establish- 
ing of  a  new  relation,  but  the  discovery  of  the 
true  relation  which  existed. 

After  my  connection  with  the  church  and 
during  my  winter  vacations  of  two  and  a  half 
months,  my  brother  William  often  talked  to  me 
very  earnestly  of  my  possible  duty,  "  if  I  felt 
called,"  to  become  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  In- 
deed many  of  my  friends  to  this  day  think  that 
I  have  missed  my  calling,  that  I  ought  to  have 
been  a  preacher.    At  that  time  I  did  think  very 

44 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

seriously  of  it,  but  my  scientific  tastes  prevailed, 
and  carried  me  toward  medicine  instead;  and  I 
have  never  regretted  it.  One  may  be  a  preacher 
of  righteousness  in  more  ways  than  one. 

Among  the  educating  influences  of  college 
life,  I  must  not  omit  the  literary  societies.  Fra- 
ternities, such  as  now  exist,  there  were  none  at 
that  time,  but  only  semi-secret  societies  for  lit- 
erary exercises  and  for  debates.  There  were, 
of  course,  two  rival  societies,  called  respectively 
"  Demosthenian  "  and  "  Phi  Kappa,"  to  one  or 
the  other  of  which  all  the  students  belonged.  I 
was  a  Phi  Kappa.  I  have  seen  nothing  in  col- 
leges since  that  time  at  all  equal  to  these.  The 
interest  in  them  was  so  great  that  Saturday,  a 
holiday  in  college  exercises,  was  often  entirely 
consumed  in  debates ;  and  when  the  question  was 
a  living  one,  I  have  known  the  debates  to  con- 
tinue until  midnight.  They  were  an  excellent 
training  for  public  life,  and  were  therefore  en- 
couraged by  the  faculty  and  stimulated  by  al- 
lowing the  two  societies  to  choose  one-half  of  the 
eight  junior  orators,  i.  e.,  two  by  each  society, 
for  commencement  exhibition.  The  best  results 
of  these  societies  I  never  attained.  I  was  too 
young  and  sensitive,  too  easily  embarrassed  to 
make  a  good  debater.    Even  to  this  day  I  am 

45 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

not  a  ready  speaker,  although  I  have  spoken  so 
much;  even  now  I  must  elaborately  prepare. 
My  brother  Lewis,  on  the  contrary,  though  far 
less  distinguished  in  the  classes,  was  a  very 
fearless  and  successful  debater. 

Games  and  gymnasiums  as  a  regular  part 
of  college  work,  and  hence  regular  organiza- 
tions of  students  for  athletics,  were  unknown 
at  that  time.  Athletics  and  games  there  were 
indeed  a  plenty,  but  as  purely  spontaneous  ex- 
pressions of  abounding  vitality.  I  was  light, 
active,  and  fleet  of  foot,  and  became  very  expert 
in  gymnastics  and  as  a  player  of  town-ball,  for 
baseball  and  cricket  had  not  yet  evolved. 

To  me,  at  this  time,  a  most  important  means 
of  culture  was  the  society  of  ladies.  The  ladies 
of  Athens  were  celebrated  for  their  beauty  and 
refinement,  and  it  was  the  habit  of  the  students 
to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  the  ladies  of  the 
families  of  the  faculty  and  of  other  families  in 
the  town.  Refined  women  were  to  me  then,  and 
I  confess  to  something  of  the  same  feeling  yet, 
a  sort  of  superior  beings,  belonging  to  another, 
higher,  and  purer  sphere  of  existence.  I  sim- 
ply worshiped  them.  Association  with  them 
produced  in  me  a  delicious  delirium,  an  ecstatic 
joy  and  exaltation.    I  have  much  of  the  same 

46 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

feeling  yet,  although  moderated  and  purged  of 
its  extravagance  by  experience.  In  these  days 
it  has  become  the  fashion  to  ridicule  this  ro- 
mantic feeling  toward  women,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  it  is  the  greatest  of  all  safeguards  of 
the  purity  of  young  men. 

I  never  had  any  great  ambition  to  excel  my 
fellows  in  the  classes.  I  was,  moreover,  too 
young  to  appreciate  the  highest  motives  of 
study.  There  were,  therefore,  only  two  mo- 
tives that  determined  such  diligence  as  I  showed 
— viz.,  a  desire  to  please  my  instructors  and  a 
real  taste  in  the  subject  of  study.  This  latter 
was  the  main  motive  in  mathematics,  mechanics, 
and  physics,  and,  in  the  last  year,  in  mental  and 
moral  philosophy.  The  subjects  of  my  ad- 
dresses as  junior  orator  in  1840,  and  again  as 
senior  orator  in  1841,  on  the  occasion  of  my 
graduation,  of  which  I  remember  little  except 
their  extreme  immaturity,  show  this  double  tend- 
ency of  my  mind  toward  science  and  moral 
philosophy.  The  title  of  the  one  was  True 
Greatness,  which  I  took  to  be  mainly  moral 
worth ;  of  the  other,  Love  of  Truth,  the  Highest 
Incentive  to  Effort.  Both  of  these  I  burned 
many  years  ago  in  disgust  at  their  almost  child- 
ish crudity  and  immaturity.    I  wish  now  I  had 

47 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

preserved  them.  We  grow  more  tolerant  as  we 
grow  older.  The  fact  is,  my  ability  to  write 
anything  of  any  value  came  very  late.  I  never 
was,  and  am  not  now,  a  facile  writer.  For  me, 
a  written  production  of  any  kind  is  literally  a 
piece  of  thought  work.  It  is  not,  however,  a 
manufactured  article,  but  a  child  of  the  brain. 
It  is  not  made,  but  born — born  of  much  labor 
and  with  many  throes.  Of  course,  therefore,  I 
never  could  write  until  I  had  independent 
thoughts  of  my  own.  The  skilful  putting  to- 
gether of  the  commonplaces  of  literature  into  a 
brilliant  patchwork  is  a  thing  I  could  never  do. 

The  natural  history  sciences,  which  the  ex- 
ample of  my  father  had  made  my  first  love,  were 
almost  wholly  neglected  during  my  college 
course,  because  this  side  of  science  was  the  most 
feebly  represented  in  the  faculty.  I  only  re- 
turned to  it  through  the  study  of  medicine,  much 
later. 

There  was  but  one  man  in  the  faculty  who 
was  in  any  way  remarkable,  and  whose  person- 
ality strongly  impressed  me — viz.,  Charles  P. 
McCay.  He  was  an  excellent  mathematician 
and  mechanician,  and  well  versed  also  in  phys- 
ics. He  was  the  most  skilful  oral  examiner  I 
ever   knew:   his   Socratic  method   of   drawing 

48 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

out  knowledge  or  of  exposing  ignorance  was 
really  marvelous ;  I  have  never  known  anything 
like  it.  I  was  afterward,  from  1853  to  1857,  as- 
sociated with  him  as  colleague,  and  became  very 
intimately  acquainted  with  him,  and  learned  to 
admire  him. 

My  college  life  was  uneventful.  I  was,  in- 
deed, full  of  life  and  spirit,  and  enjoyed  my 
college  days  to  the  full;  but  I  have  no  college 
pranks  to  relate.  I  had  little  fancy  for  such, 
because  I  did  not  regard  them  as  indicative  of 
spirit  and  courage.  One  single  incident  I  men- 
tion. 

It  was  my  last  year  in  college.  I  was  pre- 
paring for  my  part  in  the  commencement  exer- 
cises, although  I  was  then  only  eighteen — a  mere 
slender  slip  of  a  boy.  My  brother  Lewis,  then 
twenty,  was  in  love  with  a  young  lady,  the  one 

he  afterward  married.  A  young  man,  P ,  was 

also  in  love  with  the  same  girl.  One  evening 
about  9  p.  m.,  Lewis  and  I  were  passing  the  col- 
lege dormitory,  each  with  a  lady  on  his  arm; 
Lewis,  of  course,  with  his  lady-love.  While  pass- 
ing, I  heard  some  noise  in  the  building,  but  took 
no  notice  of  it.  Lewis's  jealous  ear,  however,  de- 
tected some  taunt,  which  he  regarded  as  an  in- 
sult to  the  ladies,  and  he  recognized,  the  window 
5  49 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

from  wliich  it  came.  He  said  nothing  to  any 
one,  not  even  to  me,  about  it,  but  next  morning 
accused  P of  the  insult,  and  instantly  at- 
tacked him.     P was  a  powerful  man,  and 

gave  Lewis  a  pretty  severe  pommeling. 

I  was  away  at  the  time,  like  Demosthenes 
practising  my  speech  in  solitude.  When  I  came 
back  I  found  Lewis  with  his  eye  bandaged,  and 
bathing  it  with  a  cooling  lotion;  and  then  for 
the  first  time  learned  the  facts.  I  determined  at 
once  that  I  too  would  fight.  I  was  perfectly 
sure  that  I  would  be  badly  beaten ;  but  no  mat- 
ter, it  had  to  be  done.    I  went  to  P 's  room, 

but  he  was  absent.  I  waited  for  him  in  the 
room  of  a  friend  just  opposite,  across  the  pas- 
sage, but  said  nothing  to  the  friend.  When 
P returned,  I  knocked  at  his  door  and  en- 
tered. As  soon  as  I  opened  the  door,  he  ad- 
vanced rapidly  toward  me.    I  fully  expected  to 

be  knocked  down;  but  to  my  surprise  P 

said  that  he  was  glad  that  I  had  come,  for  he 
wished  to  apologize;  that  he  had  intended  to 
apologize  to  Lewis,  but  he  had  attacked  him  so 
suddenly  and  violently  that  he  had  had  no  time. 
He  confessed  that  he  was  heartily  ashamed  of 
himself.  I  was  intensely  relieved,  although  I 
did  not  tell  him  so.    On  the  contrary,  I  gave  him 

50 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

a  piece  of  my  mind,  which  to  his  credit  he  took 
with  great  meekness. 

The  long  winter  vacations  of  two  and  a  half 
months  we  always  spent  on  the  plantation  or 
else  at  Cedar  Hill,  my  brother's  place.  I  en- 
joyed these  vacations  immensely,  renewing  all 
the  sports  of  my  boyhood,  hunting,  fishing, 
boating,  etc.  It  was  in  my  last  year  at  college, 
immediately  after  returning  from  my  last  vaca- 
tion, that  I  heard  by  letter  of  the  death  of  my 
brother  William,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of 
January,  1841,  just  three  weeks  after  I  had  left 
him.  This  was  the  second  great  affliction  I  had 
suffered  by  death.  My  brother  was  my  guar- 
dian, and  a  very  noble  man  whom  I  loved  dearly. 
He  had  been  in  bad  health  for  some  months. 
Liberty  County  was  very  malarious;  and  in 
spite  of  the  summer  retreats,  the  planters  suf- 
fered more  or  less  from  fevers.  The  summer  of 
1840  had  been  more  than  usually  sickly,  and 
when  I  came  down  in  November,  I  found  Wil- 
liam in  a  very  bad  condition.  He  was  well 
aware  of  the  uncertainty  of  his  life,  and  often 
talked  to  me  calmly  and  even  cheerfully  of  the 
probability  of  his  early  death,  for  he  was  then 
but  twenty-eight.  The  only  thing  that  dis- 
tressed him,  he  said,  was  leaving  his  wife  and 

51 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

children.  These  talks  deeply  impressed  me  at 
the  time,  but  I  could  not  fully  realize  their  sig- 
nificance, because  he  was  cheerful  and  his 
strength  was  still  considerable.  Only  a  few  days 
before  I  left  for  college  he  took  a  walk  of  three 
miles  with  me  without  fatigue.  The  news  of 
his  death  came,  therefore,  as  a  terrible  shock 
from  which  I  recovered  but  slowly.  But  youth, 
absence  from  the  scene  of  grief,  diversion  of 
constant  duties  of  study — under  these  condi- 
tions sorrow  can  not  last  very  long.  But  the 
happy  vacations  at  Cedar  Hill,  the  home  of  my 
brother,  and  with  my  sister  in  the  old  planta- 
tion house!  Should  I  ever  know  such  things 
again? 

I  have  spoken  all  along  of  my  scientific 
tastes  inherited  from  my  father,  and  enforced 
by  his  example,  but  have  said  nothing  of  the 
development  of  the  esthetic  side  of  my  nature. 
As  already  said,  my  mother  was  passionately 
fond  of  music.  How  much  I  inherited  from  her, 
I  know  not;  but  from  early  childhood  my  de- 
light in  music  was  simply  inconceivable.  My 
brother  William,  himself  a  flutist,  observing 
this,  bought  me  a  fife,  on  which  I  practised  in- 
cessantly; but  lest  it  should  annoy  others,  I 
practised  alone,  and  usually  in  the  beloved  gar- 

52 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

den.  In  a  year  or  two  I  became  an  excellent 
performer.  I  remember  well  that  a  neighbor, 
whose  taste,  however,  was  not  cultivated,  used 
to  say,  that  in  his  opinion,  even  in  my  best  days 
of  flute-playing,  I  never  made  as  good  music  as 
I  did  in  boyhood  on  the  fife.  After  a  few  years 
my  brother  bought  me  a  flute,  on  which  I  played 
much  and  quite  skilfully  all  the  time  I  was  in 
college  and  afterward,  until  I  went  to  study 
medicine  in  New  York. 

In  New  York  I  bought  me  a  fine  eight-keyed 
flute,  which  I  continued  to  use  until  I  was  nearly 
fifty,  when  I  quit  playing  altogether.  Although 
this  is  anticipating,  I  may  say  that  my  enjoy- 
ment of  my  own  flute  music  in  early  manhood 
was  intense,  especially  when  playing  entirely 
alone.  I  never  had,  nor  cared  to  have,  the  bril- 
liant execution  of  some,  but  for  sweetness  of 
tone  and  passionate  depth  of  feeling,  I  think  I 
was  seldom  excelled.  I  kept  up  my  music  many, 
very  many  years  after  my  marriage,  especially 
as  an  accompaniment  to  my  wife's  piano  and 
songs,  but  gradually  played  less  and  less,  until 
finally  I  dropped  it  entirely,  when  I  was  about 
forty-eight.  There  were  several  reasons  for 
this.  My  taste  in  music  was  going  ever  for- 
ward, while  my  power  of  performance,  for  want 

53 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

of  time  to  practise,  was  going  ever  backward, 
until  they  were  so  far  separated  that  I  could  no 
longer  please  myself,  and  dropped  it  in  disgust. 
In  early  life,  moreover,  my  greatest  passion  was 
for  simple  melody,  of  which  the  flute  is  an  ad- 
mirable expression;  but  as  I  grew  older  I  more 
and  more  enjoyed  complex  harmony,  which,  of 
course,  can  not  be  rendered  on  the  flute.  I 
enjoyed  my  wife's  piano  more  than  I  did  my 
flute,  and  took  more  delight  in  listening  than 
in  performing. 

My  love  of  poetry  was  far  less  advanced. 
The  first  beginning  of  it  was  while  in  college, 
and  strange  to  say,  showed  itself  in  regard  for 
two  poets  as  wide  apart  as  possible — Milton 
and  Burns.  My  musical  taste  drew  me  toward 
Milton,  my  love  of  nature  toward  Burns;  but 
my  real  fondness  for  literature  and  art  came 
much  later,  as  I  shall  describe  in  the  proper 
place. 

Lewis  and  I  graduated  in  August,  1841.  I 
was  eighteen  and  five  months,  and  Lewis  a  little 
more  than  two  years  older.  It  so  happened  that 
my  sister  Anne,  two  years  younger  than  I,  grad- 
uated from  the  Macon  Female  College,  the  first 
female  collegiate  institution  in  the  United 
States,  about  the  same  time.    It  was  arranged 

54 


COLLEGE    LIFE 

(Anne's  idea  entirely)  that  we  three  should 
make  a  tour  through  the  Northern  States,  visit- 
ing all  the  great  cities.  Anne  joined  us  in 
Athens,  and  we  started  at  once. 

This  tour  was  a  great  event  for  all  of 
us.  We  went  first  to  the  national  capital, 
Washington,  and  put  up  at  the  best  hotel.  Anne 
was  determined  to  go  in  style.  Now,  Lewis  and 
I  would,  of  course,  have  taken  our  meals  at  the 
table  d'hote  like  other  plain  people,  but  Anne 
wouldn't  hear  to  it.  It  was  much  grander  to 
have  a  private  parlor,  and  take  our  meals  there. 
I  think,  also,  that  with  woman's  keener  instinct, 
she  was  sensitive  about  our  exceeding  green- 
ness ;  for  after  several  weeks  of  travel,  we  gave 
up  this  expensive  habit. 

To  our  inexperience,  the  Capitol,  the  presi- 
dential mansion,  the  buildings  of  the  several  De- 
partments, the  Washington  monument,  not  then 
finished,  etc.,  were  wonders  of  architectural 
magnificence.  We  attended,  of  course,  the 
meetings  of  Congress,  and  not  only  saw  the 
celebrated  trio,  Webster,  Calhoun,  and  Clay, 
but  heard  them  speak.  We  also  visited  Mount 
Vernon,  the  home  of  Washington.  After  a  week 
at  the  capital,  we  continued  our  journey,  staying 
a  few  days  at  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Boston, 

55 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  Cambridge,  visiting,  of  course,  everything 
that  was  most  worth  seeing;  and  returned  to 
New  York  to  spend  a  month  or  more  there.  My 
sister  Jane,  and  her  husband,  Dr.  Harden,  and 
their  two  children,  were  also  on  a  visit  to  New 
York.  My  brother  John  had  graduated  as  Doc- 
tor of  Medicine,  in  April,  and  had  just  married 
Eleanor  Josephine  Graham,  the  most  beautiful 
woman  I  have  ever  seen.  He  and  his  beautiful 
bride  were  still  in  New  York,  waiting  to  go 
South  in  November.  Our  whole  family,  there- 
fore, except  my  brother  William's  widow  and 
her  children,  were  here  gathered  in  New  York. 
My  uncle,  John  Eatton  Le  Conte,  the  distin- 
guished naturalist,  with  his  afterward  still 
more  distinguished  son,  John  Lawrence  Le 
Conte,  then  only  sixteen,  was  living  at  that  time 
at  46  Walker  Street,  New  York;  and  John  and 
his  bride  stayed  with  him,  while  the  rest  of  us 
boarded  near  by.  All  of  us  spent  every  evening 
at  "  Uncle  Jack's  "  house,  and  a  very  happy  six 
weeks  we  passed  under  these  delightful  condi- 
tions. 

Early  in  November  we  took  regretful  leave 
of  our  dear  old  uncle  and  went  South,  and  for 
some  weeks  all  of  us  stayed  with  my  sister  Jane 
at  the  old  plantation,  Woodmanston. 

56 


COLLEGE    LIFE 

About  a  week  after  our  return  my  brother 
William's  widow  came  down  from  Macon,  and 
brought  with  her  her  brother,  John  T.  Nisbet,  a 
young  man  of  my  own  age.  We  became  fast 
friends  and  were  soon  inseparable.  There  were 
at  least  a  dozen  houses  in  Liberty  where  I  was 
welcome  to  stay  as  long  as  I  liked — the  longer 
the  better — and  "  John  T."  always  went  with 
me.  We  had  grand  times  that  winter,  duck- 
shooting,  deer-hunting,  riding  on  horseback  with 
the  ladies,  etc. 

In  the  spring  all  of  us  went  to  Macon  and 
remained  some  weeks.  In  June  John  and  his 
wife,  Lewis,  and  I  went  to  Athens  and  organ- 
ized a  trip  for  the  mountains.  There  were  eight 
in  the  party,  four  of  us  and  four  of  the  Nisbets, 
and  we  filled  two  carriages.  Our  route  was 
from  Athens  to  Gainesville,  Nacooche  Valley, 
Yonah  Mountain,  Clarkesville,  Tallulah  Falls, 
Toccoa  Falls,  and  back  to  Athens.  I  had  pre- 
viously been  over  the  ground  during  a  college 
vacation,  but  enjoyed  it  more  in  the  gay  com- 
pany. But,  as  will  be  seen,  I  enjoyed  it  still 
more  in  later  excursions. 

On  our  return  to  Athens  the  party  broke  up 
and  scattered,  John  going  to  New  York  with  his 
wife,  Lewis  to  Cambridge  to  attend  the  Harvard 

57 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Law  School,  and  I  to  Macon  to  begin  the  study 
of  medicine  under  Dr.  Charles  West.  Here, 
save  for  a  few  weeks  at  Columbus  and  Merri- 
wether  Springs  in  August,  I  remained  until  I 
went  down  to  the  plantation  for  the  winter  in 
November. 

My  brother  John  having  settled  at  Savannah 
and  commenced  the  practise  of  medicine,  I  nom- 
inally continued  my  studies  under  him.  But 
precious  little  study  I  did  that  winter!  My 
cousin  John  L.  Le  Conte,  then  eighteen,  came 
South  and  spent  several  months  with  me  at  the 
old  homestead.  We  had  a  delightful  winter, 
riding,  boating,  duck-shooting,  etc.  But  John 
never  became  really  expert  at  any  of  these  as 
he  had  begun  too  late. 

While  John  was  with  us,  I  think  in  April, 
the  great  comet  of  1843  appeared  flaming  in  the 
sky.  With  the  single  exception  of  that  of  1858, 
this  was  the  largest  comet  I  ever  saw.  The  tail 
was  like  the  path  of  a  great  search-light,  reach- 
ing from  the  horizon  to  the  zenith.  As  I  was 
always  a  lover  of  the  starry  dome,  this  wonder- 
ful straight  band  flaming  in  the  sky  interested 
me  profoundly. 

After  John  had  left  us,  in  June,  I  rode  with 
a  companion  to  the  Altamaha  River  and  back,  a 

58 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

distance  of  thirty  miles,  to  gather  the  plants  and 
river  shells  for  which  the  region  is  so  celebrated. 
To  escape  the  heat  of  the  day  and  to  have  as 
mnch  time  as  possible  at  the  gathering  ground, 
we  started  before  sunrise.  I  can  never  forget 
the  delight  of  that  early  morning  ride.  The 
cool,  moist  morning  air  was  loaded  with  the 
fragrance  of  the  Magnolia  glauca,  which  as  we 
neared  a  swamp  could  be  smelt  a  mile  away. 
As  we  approached  the  Altamaha,  the  ponds  were 
covered  with  the  broad  leaves  and  the  beautiful 
yellow  blossoms  of  the  Nelumblum,  which  I  had 
never  seen  before.  In  addition  to  plants  we 
gathered  a  great  number  of  river  shells,  espe- 
cially of  the  Maio  spinosus,  with  its  needle-like 
spines  an  inch  and  a  half  long,  a  shell  that  is 
found  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 

During  the  winter  my  sister  Anne  became 
engaged  to  Dr.  J.  P.  Stevens,  a  very  worthy  and 
cultivated  man  and  a  successful  physician  in 
Liberty  County.  In  June,  184-3,  they  were  mar- 
ried, and  as  Anne  wanted  to  have  a  grand  wed- 
ding, on  the  shortest  possible  notice  of  four 
days  I  went  into  Savannah  and  ordered  every- 
thing— cakes,  fruits  in  abundance,  about  a  ton 
of  ice — and  got  it  all  to  Jonesville  on  the  day  of 
the  wedding.    I  had  invited  "  John  T."  to  come 

59 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

down,  and  he  also  arrived  the  same  day.  I  was 
up  all  that  night ;  for  after  the  wedding  I  went 
out  serenading  all  the  girls  of  Jonesville  and 
the  visitors  at  the  wedding,  and  got  back  to  my 
bed  at  the  family  home  in  Jonesville  just  as  the 
sun  was  rising. 

"  John  T."  took  me  back  with  him  to  Macon, 
and  then  over  to  Midway,  to  the  home  of  his 
elder  brother,  Mr.  Alfred  Nisbet.  Here  for  the 
first  time  I  met  a  young  girl  of  fifteen,  Miss 
Caroline  Elizabeth  Nisbet,  who  later  became 
my  wife.  Ah,  the  boundless  hospitality  of 
those  times!  Alfred  Nisbet  and  his  wife  and 
family  of  five  children,  all  nearly  grown,  lived 
really  bountifully  on  his  salary  of  two  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  and  entertained  five  of  us  with  no 
thought  of  limiting  our  stay.  We  had  a  contin- 
ual round  of  entertainments,  musicales,  and 
evening  parties,  at  which  all  the  young  people 
of  the  village  were  present.  The  center  of  all 
this  gaiety  was  the  bright-eyed,  winsome  Miss 
Bessie.  But  I  remained  heart-whole.  She  was 
only  fifteen,  and  from  the  advanced  age  of 
twenty  I  never  thought  of  her  except  as  a  child. 

Lewis  returned  from  Harvard  in  June,  and 
immediately  after  married  Miss  Bessie's  cousin, 
Miss  Harriet  Nisbet,  of  Athens.     My  sister  and 

60 


COLLEGE   LIFE 

I  went  to  Athens  to  attend  the  wedding  and  re- 
mained for  a  week  or  so  afterward  at  the  hotel. 
The  landlord's  daughter  was  a  sweet-looking 
girl  with  gentle,  winning  manners,  and  beauti- 
ful blonde  complexion.  She  played  finely  on 
the  harp,  an  instrument  that,  as  she  evidently 
knew,  was  well  adapted  to  show  off  the  graceful 
movements  of  her  exquisitely  molded  arms  and 
soft  little  hands.  Every  evening  I  asked  her  to 
play;  and  I  must  confess  that  those  beautiful 
arms  and  graceful  fingers,  those  golden  ringlets 
and  sapphire  blue  eyes  did  make  some  impres- 
sion on  my  too  susceptible  heart — the  very  first 
that  I  had  ever  felt.  The  evenings  were  becom- 
ing dangerously  delightful,  when,  fortunately 
for  me,  it  became  necessary  for  me  to  leave,  as  I 
had  to  begin  my  medical  studies  in  New  York. 
I  was  sad  and  melancholy  for  a  long  time  after- 
ward; I  went  to  Macon,  but  I  did  not  get  over 
it ;  I  went  down  to  Liberty  for  a  few  weeks  but 
still  I  did  not  get  over  it,  though  the  girls  made 
much  of  me  and  kept  me  going  all  the  time;  I 
went  on  to  New  York  and  stayed  with  good  old 
"  Uncle  Jack,"  and  still  it  was  some  time  before 
I  could  feel  wholly  free  again. 

But  ere  long  I  was  to  learn  that  it  was  not 
real  love. 

61 


CHAPTER   III 

MEDICAL  STUDY  IN  NEW  YORK,"    TRIP  THROUGH 
THE     NORTHWEST 

I  spent  the  whole  winter  and  the  spring 
until  May  attending  lectures  at  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  then  on  Crosby  street, 
New  York.  It  was  a  constant  grind,  grind  of 
lectures,  six  lectures  every  day  for  six  days  in 
the  week.  During  the  winter  course  of  four 
months  the  professors  were  Drs.  Parker,  Gil- 
man,  James  M.  Smith,  Watts,  Beck,  and  Torrey. 
This  was  followed  by  a  spring  course  of  two 
months  by  specialists,  of  whom  I  particularly 
remember  Dr.  Alonzo  Clark,  who  lectured  on 
pulmonary  diseases. 

I  took  advantage  of  every  opportunity 
offered,  attending  the  hospitals  on  the  occasions 
of  operations,  joining  the  quiz  class  when  there 
was  one,  and  taking  a  coach,  Dr,  Lewis  Sayre, 
then  a  very  promising  young  surgeon.  I  also 
took  charity  patients  and  thus  had  a  little  prac- 

62 


MEDICAL  STUDY  IN  NEW  YORK 

tise,  under  the  advice,  when  necessary,  of  the 
professors.  Of  course  I  took  dissection,  and 
found  it  strangely  fascinating,  the  very  horror 
of  the  thing  adding  greatly  to  the  fascination. 

Such  was  my  work  all  winter  and  spring,  a 
regular  cram;  monotonous  enough,  but  yet  in- 
teresting to  me,  especially  the  more  scientific 
part  of  the  curriculum,  such  as  physiology, 
anatomy,  pathology,  and  chemistry.  As  most 
of  the  students  were  imperfectly  educated,  the 
fact  that  I  was  a  Bachelor  of  Arts  was  a  fine 
plume  in  my  cap. 

The  summer  of  1844  was  an  eventful  one  for 
me,  and  I  believe  of  great  importance  in  my  de- 
velopment. About  the  middle  of  May,  when 
we  were  through  with  our  spring  courses,  my 
cousin,  John  Lawrence  Le  Conte,  and  I  started 
on  a  summer  trip  westward.  We  knew  not  and 
cared  little  where  we  would  fetch  up,  being  in- 
tent only  on  having  a  good  time.  If  we  had 
known  our  course,  we  certainly  would  have  car- 
ried a  very  different  kind  of  luggage,  for  we 
were  afterward  greatly  hampered  by  our  trunks. 

We  went  first  to  Niagara,  stopping  two  days 
at  Syracuse  in  order  to  examine  the  salt-works 
there.  At  Niagara  we  stayed  a  week,  visiting 
everything  that  was  to  be  seen,  and  enjoyed  it 

63 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

immensely.  "  John  L.,"  although  at  this  time 
only  nineteen,  was  already  an  enthusiastic  stu- 
dent and  collector  of  insects,  especially  beetles, 
and  had  with  him  all  the  apparatus  for  collect- 
ing, preserving,  etc.  He  had  inherited  this  taste 
from  his  father,  who  had  been  all  his  life  almost 
equally  distinguished  in  all  departments  of 
zoology  and  botany.  But  recently  he  had  spe- 
cialized more  and  more  on  insects,  especially 
coleopters,  and  of  these  he  had  the  finest  col- 
lection in  the  United  States.  John  inherited 
his  father's  versatility,  but  like  his  father,  and 
in  much  greater  degree,  specialized  on  coleop- 
ters, and  became,  as  is  well  known,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished coleopterist  in  the  country.  I  was 
myself  a  keen  observer  of  nature,  but  not  a  spe- 
cialist nor  a  collector  in  any  department.  I  was 
interested  in  John's  pursuits,  however,  and  col- 
lected for  him  whenever  I  could  without  inter- 
ference with  what  I  regarded  as  higher  pleas- 
ures. For  myself,  I  could  think  of  nothing  here 
but  Niagara,  and  could  not  help  poking  fun  at 
John  for  his  greater  delight  in  a  new  species 
than  in  the  grandeur  of  Niagara. 

From  Niagara  we  went  to  Buffalo,  then  a 
small  town,  and  onward  to  Detroit,  which  then 
had    a    population    of    some    eight    thousand. 

64 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

Here  we  stayed  a  week  and  saw  a  good  deal  of 
pleasant  society,  through  the  good  offices  of 
some  ladies,  whom  we  had  met  in  New  York, 
and  who,  moreover,  were  distant  relatives  of 
ours  through  a  common  ancestor,  Eatton. 
Among  the  pleasant  acquaintances  met  here  was 
the  Rev.  Bishop  McCoskey,  a  fine  military  look- 
ing man,  a  fit  soldier  in  the  church  militant,  with 
whom  we  dined  several  times,  and  who  gave  us 
letters  to  the  officers  at  Fort  Mackinac.  While 
at  Detroit,  we  visited  Ann  Arbor  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  then  a  very  small  affair. 
The  best  thing  they  had  was  a  rather  fine  col- 
lection of  minerals. 

At  Detroit,  through  representations  made 
us  by  friends,  we  took  a  sudden  notion  to  go  to 
the  Lake  Superior  country,  and  determined,  if 
possible,  to  go  on  northwest  as  far  as  we  could. 
We  took,  therefore,  the  regular  steamer,  which 
passed  through  Lake  Huron,  the  Straits  of 
Mackinac,  and  southward  by  Lake  Michigan  to 
Chicago,  then  a  thriving  town  of  five  thousand. 
The  steamer  did  not  stop  at  Mackinac,  but  put 
us  ashore  in  a  boat  at  4  A.  m.,  and  went  on,  leav- 
ing us  shivering  there.  I  shall  never  forget 
that  landing  on  a  bleak  sand  beach,  with  not  a 
soul  in  sight.  What  are  these  strange-looking 
6  ^  C5 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

canoes  lying  bottom  upward  on  the  beach  1  We 
soon  recognized  them  as  birch-bark  Indian 
canoes.  We  had  read  of  them  and  had  seen 
pictures  of  them,  but  had  never  before  seen  one. 
While  walking  about  them,  admiring  their  grace- 
ful forms,  we  tapped  on  one  with  our  knuck- 
les— such  a  discordant  concert  of  remonstrant 
voices,  males  growling,  females  shrieking,  and 
children  piping,  arose  from  beneath!  We 
precipitately  retreated,  each  laughing  at  the 
other  for  being  so  startled.  Beneath  each  canoe 
was  a  whole  family  of  Indians  sleeping !  After 
a  little  we  found  some  who  were  awake,  and 
guided  us  to  the  only  lodging-house,  a  poor 
miserable  tumble-down  shanty  of  rough  boards. 
The  proprietor,  a  great  fat,  lazy,  tumble-down 
man  himself,  showed  us  to  a  really  clean,  tidy 
room,  and  soon  asked  us  to  a  breakfast  fit  for  a 
king :  the  most  delicious  broiled  whitefish,  steak, 
and  fragrant  coffee.  I  learned  afterward  that 
Lasly  was  celebrated  far  and  near  for  his  excel- 
lent table. 

After  breakfast,  we  went  up  to  the  fort,  and 
delivered  our  letters.  We  were  treated  with 
great  courtesy  by  the  officers,  especially  Captain 
Scott  and  Dr.  Holden.  Captain  Scott,  the  cele- 
brated hunter  of  that  time,  was  an  interesting 

66 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

man,  with  strong,  alert,  athletic  figure,  bright, 
eager,  keen  gray  eyes,  and  ruddy  face,  bronzed 
by  long  exposure.  He  was  a  great  discijjli- 
narian,  and  the  fort  was  clean  and  orderly  in  the 
extreme.  A  famous  hunter,  his  house  was  full 
both  of  the  implements  and  the  spoils  of  the 
chase.  All  kinds  of  weapons  he  showed  us; 
guns  and  pistols,  swords  and  daggers,  bows  and 
arrows,  slings  and  crossbows,  in  the  use  of  all 
of  which  he  was  equally  expert.  Every  "  coign 
of  vantage "  was  adorned  with  elk-horns  and 
buffalo-heads  and  grinning  jaws  of  panthers ; 
before  every  door  were  rugs  of  bearskins  and 
buffalo-robes.  I  was  intensely  interested  in  the 
story  of  his  adventures,  for  I,  too,  had  some 
reputation  as  a  Nimrod;  but  such  big  game 
overwhelmed  me. 

Dr.  Holden  carried  us  all  over  the  island, 
and  showed  us  all  the  remarkable  sights,  espe- 
cially Arched  Rock  and  Sugar  Loaf  Rock. 
Arched  Rock  is  like  a  fragment  of  a  great  wall, 
forty  feet  high,  which  had  been  broken  through, 
forming  a  grand  archway,  like  the  Washington 
Arch  in  New  York.  Sugar  Loaf  is  a  wonder- 
ful conical  peak,  about  seventy  feet  high,  and 
only  twenty  to  thirty  feet  at  the  base.  I  was  too 
ignorant  to  understand  the  origin  of  these  re- 

67 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

markable  features,  and  I  have  never  seen  any 
explanation  since;  but  upon  reflection,  I  think 
now  they  were  probably  remnants  of  an  old 
shore  cliff,  when  the  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes 
were  higher  than  now.  I  asked  Lasly  about 
them :  he  lazily  turned  his  quid  of  tobacco  to  the 
other  side,  and  remarked,  "  Yes,  they  say  that 
they're  worth  seeing,  but  for  my  part  I'd  rather 
see  a  dog-fight." 

I  noticed,  also,  that  the  whole  surface  of  the 
island  is  so  thickly  covered  with  drift  cobbles 
that  there  is  hardly  soil  enough  to  hold  them  to- 
gether. This  was  the  first  time  I  was  interested 
in  geological  phenomena. 

After  four  or  five  delightful  days  at  Mack- 
inac, we  hired  a  canoe  and  two  men  to  carry  us 
to  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  distant  one  hundred  miles. 
As  we  had  to  sleep  out  one  night,  we  bought 
blankets  and  buffalo-robes,  the  finest  of  which 
at  that  time  cost  but  a  dollar.  "We  started  at 
10  a.  m.  and  went  sixty  miles,  camping  on  a  little 
island.  The  night  was  still  and  sultry,  and  the 
mosquitoes  bad;  but  about  midnight  it  blew  up 
with  some  rain,  and  turned  very  cold.  The  men 
wanted  to  get  back  to  Mackinac  next  day,  so  we 
got  up  at  3  a.  m.,  cooked  breakfast,  and  started. 
The  wind  was  blowing  a  gale  directly  in  our 

68 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

faces,  and  it  was  freezing  cold.  I  never  suf- 
fered more  from  cold  in  my  life;  we  drew  our 
blankets  close  around  us,  but  the  wind  seemed 
to  pass  through  them  as  if  they  were  gauze. 
"We  reached  Sault  Ste.  Marie  about  9  a.  m.,  and 
J  ohn  and  I  walked  up  to  town  with  our  blankets 
wrapped  about  us,  presenting  a  very  stately 
appearance,  and  exciting  the  admiration  of  sev- 
eral Indian  matrons,  similarly  dressed,  minus 
the  coat  and  trousers. 

We  delivered  our  letters  from  Captain  Scott 
to  Captain  Johnson,  and  were  cordially  re- 
ceived, messing  with  the  officers  and  having  a 
jolly  good  time.  We  amused  ourselves  here 
watching  the  skill  and  dexterity  of  the  Indians 
in  running  up  and  down  the  rapids  in  their 
beautiful,  but  frail,  canoes.  Here  we  fell  in  with 
Colonel  Gratiot,  who,  with  a  lieutenant,  Hemp- 
stead, like  himself  from  St.  Louis,  and  ten  ex- 
pert Cornish  copper  miners,  was  on  his  way  to 
Keweenaw  Point  to  develop  the  copper  mines 
there.  We  were  invited  to  join  the  party,  and 
gladly  accepted.  The  lands  had  only  that  sum- 
mer been  opened  by  the  United  States  to  miners, 
and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  I  was  one  of  the 
first  party  that  commenced  operations  in  these 
now  celebrated  mines. 

69 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

After  staying  two  or  three  days  at  the  Sault, 
we  took  ship  with  Captain  Stannard,  and  after 
two  days'  sail,  landed  at  Eagle  Harbor,  while 
he  went  on  to  La  Pointe. 

Eagle  Harbor  is  a  beautiful  landlocked  bay, 
on  the  north  shore  of  Keweenaw  Point,  about 
two  miles  long  and  half  a  mile  wide.  We 
pitched  our  tent  at  the  west  end  of  the  bay, 
where  there  was  a  beautiful  level  sand  beach, 
and  camped  here  about  three  weeks ;  and  a  most 
delightful  three  weeks  we  found  it.  We  some- 
times amused  ourselves  by  rambling  along  the 
shores  of  the  Great  Lake,  collecting  the  most 
beautiful  agates ;  sometimes  by  rowing  on  the 
harbor  in  a  little  rowboat  belonging  to  Gratiot ; 
sometimes  by  shooting  grouse  and  squirrels 
with  Hempstead's  gun ;  sometimes  by  swimming 
in  the  clear,  wine-colored  waters  of  the  little 
stream. 

John  was  in  ecstasies  over  this  place  as  a 
collecting  ground  for  insects.  Every  morning 
the  beach  was  black  with  insects  cast  up  by  the 
waves  over  night.  He  gathered  here  in  a  few 
weeks  as  many  species  as  he  could  find  in  as 
many  years  roaming  over  the  country.  Insects 
essaying  to  fly  over  the  lake  were  beaten  down 
by  the  winds,  drowned,  and  washed  up  by  the 

70 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

waves  here;  or  else  insects  crawling  near  the 
water  were  carried  away  by  waves  and  washed 
up.  The  little  stream  which  entered  the  har- 
bor near  our  camp,  moreover,  brought  floating 
leaves  and  trash,  and  with  them,  insects  to  the 
bay,  and  these  also  were  cast  up  on  the  beach. 
As  might  be  supposed,  the  insects  were  mostly 
ants  and  beetles.  I  often  afterward  used  this 
as  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  strata 
black  with  fossil  insects  are  formed. 

We  lived  bountifully  while  here,  for  the  lake 
teemed  with  the  most  delicious  whitefish,  and 
the  little  river  was  full  of  trout.  I  had  the  best 
opportunity  of  comparing  these  two  delicacies. 
After  long  hesitation,  I  gave  the  palm  to  the 
whitefish.  But  it  must  be  Lake  Superior  white- 
fish.  We  varied  our  diet  with  an  occasional 
grouse,  and  frequent  squirrels. 

I  stayed  here,  as  said,  three  weeks.  Of 
course  a  settlement  had  to  be  made  for  the  mi- 
ners. Indeed,  a  town,  or  perhaps  a  city,  had  to 
be  founded.  The  party  commenced  building 
log  huts,  and  I  took  my  ax  and  helped,  thus 
becoming  one  of  the  founders  of  the  city  of 
Eagle  Harbor.  Just  ten  years  after  this — i.  e., 
in  the  summer  of  1854,  while  I  was  professor 
of  geology  in  the  University  of  Georgia — I  re- 

71 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ceived  a  letter  from  Eagle  Harbor,  asking  the 
exact  date  of  our  arrival  and  the  date  of  the 
completion  of  the  first  log  cabin.  As  I  had 
kept  a  journal,  I  easily  furnished  the  desired 
information.  What  was  the  motive  of  the  let- 
ter, whether  a  decennial  celebration  or  whether 
a  legal  question  of  claim,  I  never  knew. 

The  forests  here  were  a  dense  growth  of 
tamarack,  larch,  birch,  etc.  In  pushing  through 
this  tangled  mass,  which  in  some  places  was 
almost  impossible,  I  would  sometimes  come  on 
a  prostrate  log  of  birch,  two  feet  in  diameter 
and  apparently  perfectly  sound;  but  when  I 
stepped  on  it,  I  would  break  through  up  to  the 
knee.  The  whole  of  the  wood  was  gone,  and 
only  the  hollow  bark  left.  I  have  many  times 
used  this  in  illustration  of  the  hollow  sigillaria 
trees  of  the  coal,  for  in  these,  also,  the  bark  was 
the  most  imperishable  part. 

This  kind  of  life  was,  of  course,  hard  on 
trousers.  John's  were  becoming  disreputa- 
ble— they  had  to  be  patched.  We  had  nothing 
but  strong  bedticking;  John  covered  his  whole 
seat  with  a  patch  nearly  a  foot  square.  It  is 
easy  to  imagine  his  picturesque  appearance. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  we  regretfully  left  our 
delightful  camp  and  our  friends  in  Eagle  Har- 

72 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

bor,  and  took  ship  again  with  Captain  Stannard 
on  his  next  trip  westward.  The  glorious 
Fourth  we  spent  on  shipboard,  and,  therefore, 
without  the  usual  celebration.  I  got  up  early 
on  the  fifth,  and  witnessed  the  most  beautiful 
mirage  I  ever  saw.  I  was  watching  the  forests 
as  we  approached  La  Pointe,  and  made  some 
remark.  "  That  is  not  the  shore  that  you  see," 
said  the  captain ;  "  it  is  only  the  loom."  As 
we  approached,  the  land  and  the  trees  on  it 
became  more  distinct,  and  their  reflection  in 
the  glassy  surface  of  the  lake  came  in  view. 
As  we  still  approached,  the  whole  appear- 
ance rose  higher  and  the  real  tree-tops  ap- 
peared interlocked,  as  it  were,  with  the  inverted 
trees  of  the  phantom.  Gradually  the  phantom 
rose  higher  and  higher,  till  it  disappeared,  leav- 
ing only  the  real.  At  one  time  in  this  gradual 
transition  there  were  four  repetitions  of  the 
forest,  viz.,  the  phantom  forest  and  its  reflec- 
tion, and  the  real  forest  and  its  reflection.  In 
explanation,  I  suppose  there  was  a  cold  dense 
layer  of  air  on  the  water,  for  the  lake  is  very 
cold,  and  the  greater  refraction  of  this  layer 
caused  the  phenomenon.  I  have  often  seen  it 
under  similar  conditions,  but  never  before  or 
since  so  finely  displayed. 

73 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

At  La  Pointe  we  took  rooms  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Oakes,  the  Indian  agent.  There  were 
two  or  three  hundred  Indians  on  the  island, 
but  only  two  white  men;  Mr.  Oakes,  who 
had  married  a  half-breed  Indian  woman,  and 
had  two  rather  pretty  quadroon  daughters  of 
seventeen  or  eighteen;  and  Dr.  Borup,  the 
American  Fur  Company's  agent,  a  Norwegian, 
and  a  really  intelligent  and  cultivated  gentle- 
man. 

We  stayed  several  days  at  La  Pointe  in 
order  to  make  preparations  for  a  long  camping 
trip,  and  one  of  these  was  Sunday.  In  the  fore- 
noon we  went  to  the  Christian  service;  in  the 
afternoon,  to  the  pagan.  I  was  interested  in 
both,  but  especially  in  the  latter.  I  observed, 
too,  the  same  Indians  attending  with  sober  de- 
voutness  the  one,  and  then  with  frenzied  de- 
light the  other.  Of  this  latter,  which  lasted 
some  three  hours,  I  give  a  brief  description, 
though  I  never  clearly  understood  what  it  was 
all  about. 

The  Indians  had  built  a  birch-bark  lodge, 
seventy  to  eighty  feet  long,  and  thirty  or  forty 
feet  wide.  In  the  middle  of  this  they  had  set 
up  a  post,  painted  with  red  stripes.  This 
seemed  to  be  a  temporary  representative  of  the 

74 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

Great  Spirit,  Manitiongeh,  for  they  always  made 
obeisance  to  it  in  passing.  It  is  impossible 
to  describe  the  strange  mixture  of  dancing, 
chanting,  drum-beating,  and  rattle-shaking.  It 
was  apparently  a  ceremony  of  initiation  of  an 
old  woman  into  a  religious  society.  She  sat  on 
a  number  of  blankets  spread  on  the  ground, 
about  half-way  between  the  painted  post  and  the 
end  of  the  lodge.  The  blankets  were  appar- 
ently the  initiatory  offerings.  The  audience 
sat  about  the  walls  all  around.  Five  or  six 
priests,  or  medicine-men,  with  medicine  pouches 
in  their  hands,  made  of  the  skins  of  small  ani- 
mals, retaining  the  shape  of  the  animal,  and  es- 
pecially the  head,  marched  continuously  around 
the  post,  the  woman  chanting.  All  that  I  could 
distinguish  were  the  words  "  Hay — Mani- 
tiongeh— Hay "  repeated  almost  indefinitely. 
Every  time  the  medicine-men  passed  around  the 
woman,  they  presented  the  heads  of  the  animal- 
bags  toward  her,  with  a  "  ho-ho-ho-ho,"  rapidly 
pronounced.  Whenever  this  was  done,  she 
bowed  her  head  toward  the  ground  and  trem- 
bled violently.  Her  agitation  increased  with 
every  repetition,  until  finally  she  fell  prostrate 
on  her  face,  and  was  taken  out  in  an  insensible 
condition,   and   carried  into   a   small   separate 

75 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

lodge.  What  occurred  there  was  a  religious 
secret.  As  soon  as  she  returned  revived,  there 
commenced  a  general  dance  of  the  whole  com- 
pany, in  which  she  joined  with  supernatural  ac- 
tivity. Gradually  religious  excitement  passed 
into  frenzy,  and  frenzy  into  convulsions  and  in- 
sensibility, and  in  this  condition  she  was  again 
borne  out. 

We  stayed  at  La  Pointe  several  days  making 
the  necessary  arrangements  for  our  long  trip  to 
the  head- waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thence 
to  Fort  Snelling.  From  there  we  expected  to 
go  up  the  Minnesota  Eiver,  then  called  the  St. 
Peter's.  We  therefore  hired  from  Dr.  Borup  a 
large-sized  birch-bark  canoe  and  two  men  as 
guides  and  paddlers  for  forty  days,  and  paid 
him  at  once.  We  had  moccasins  made,  as  it  is 
not  safe  to  wear  boots  or  shoes  in  a  birch-bark 
canoe,  and  laid  in  provisions — pork,  flour, 
cheese,  maple-sugar,  crackers,  tea,  coffee,  etc. 

When  ready,  we  bade  good-by  to  our 
friends,  not  forgetting  the  pretty  quadroons, 
and  walked  down  to  the  canoe.  When  my  foot 
went  over  the  side  of  the  canoe,  as  I  had  for- 
gotten about  the  moccasins,  my  ankle  was 
seized — "  No,  no,  not  with  shoes ;  must  put  on 
moccasins."     The  change  was  soon  made,  and 

76 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

we  embarked.  "We  wore  nothing  but  these  moc- 
casins on  our  feet  for  three  weeks. 

I  stop  a  moment  to  describe  our  canoe  and 
guides.  Our  canoe  was  an  ordinary  birch- 
bark,  now  so  familiar,  but  then  new  to  me. 
Their  lightness  and  grace,  their  paper-like  thin- 
ness and  frailty  are  well  known.  Ours  was  larger 
than  usual,  being  about  twenty-four  feet  long 
and  three  feet  wide.  Our  guides  were  Robi- 
deau,  a  French  Canadian  and  a  famous  voyageur, 
and  Francois  Salle,  a  half-breed  French  Indian. 
They  spoke  only  the  barest  smattering  of  Eng- 
lish, and  their  French  was  but  little  better,  be- 
ing a  mixed  patois.  We,  on  the  other  hand, 
spoke  almost  no  French,  so  that  our  communi- 
cation was  largely  by  signs,  although  we  did 
manage  to  understand  a  little  of  their  patois,  and 
made  them  understand  some  of  our  bad  French. 

We  started  about  8  a.  m.,  July  8th.  I  can 
never  forget  the  delight  of  that  day's  sail  among 
the  exquisitely  beautiful  Apostle  Islands.  Often 
we  were  completely  surrounded  by  them  and 
seemed  to  be  in  the  midst  of  a  little  lake,  with 
picturesque  shores  changing  at  every  moment. 
The  islands  consisted  of  level  red  sandstone, 
with  bold  shores,  crowned  with  heavy  for- 
ests.   We  made  a  glorious  camp  our  first  night 

77 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

out,    among   these   islands,    and   enjoyed   our- 
selves thoroughly. 

Next  morning  we  came  out  from  among  the 
islands,  and  skirted  the  south  shore  of  the  lake. 
Here  the  guides  took  us  to  see  a  great  curiosity ; 
the  south  shore  of  the  lake  is  bordered  by  an 
almost  perpendicular  cliff  of  red  sandstone 
fifty  feet  high,  the  heavy  level  beds  of  which  have 
been  eaten  into  and  undermined  by  the  waves, 
forming  caves  and  arches,  which  tumble  in  from 
time  to  time,  causing  recession  of  the  shore. 
At  one  place  the  waves  had  cut  far  under  the 
cliff,  and  the  overhanging  table  was  supported 
by  many  gnarled  columns  of  harder  sandstone. 
The  guides  took  the  canoe  more  than  a  hundred 
yards  under  the  sandstone  table-rock,  and  we 
looked  out  through  hundreds  of  columns  on  to 
the  great  lake.  Above  our  heads  there  were 
fifty  feet  of  sandstone,  crowned  with  prime- 
val forest.  Through  these  gloomy  corridors, 
among  these  great  columns,  and  beneath  these 
hollow  arches,  the  waves  dashed  with  a  sound 
like  thunder.  It  was  wonderfully  impressive  of 
the  power  of  waves  as  an  erosive  agent.  I  was 
even  then  convinced  that  all  the  Apostle  Islands 
are  but  remnants  of  the  same  level  sandstone, 
left  by  a  similar  process   of  erosion.     These 

78 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

phenomena  have  been  described  by  others  since 
that  time,  but  I  believe  my  own  observations 
were  the  first,  as  also  were  the  explanations 
given  in  my  journal. 

"We  nooned  that  day  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Bois  Brule  River.  The  guides  pointed  it  out 
to  us  as  the  way  by  which  they  would  return 
from  Fort  Snelling.  I  thought  nothing  of  it 
then ;  but  long  afterward  learned  by  the  investi- 
gations of  the  geologists  of  this  region  that  this 
was  an  old  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  into  the  Mis- 
sissippi, through  the  St.  Croix. 

In  the  afternoon  we  prevailed  on  our 
guides  to  take  us  across  to  the  north  shore, 
as  we  desired  to  see  at  least  something  of  it 
also.  After  a  little  hesitation,  they  struck  out 
with  vigor,  remarking  that  a  sudden  squall 
would  be  dangerous.  The  distance  was  about 
twenty-five  miles ;  we  went  across  in  about  four 
hours,  and  camped  for  the  night  on  a  beautiful 
pebble  beach.  Our  guides  began  immediately 
to  pitch  our  tent  on  a  mass  of  pebbles,  each  one 
about  the  size  of  a  walnut.  We  remonstrated, 
but  they  assured  us  that  rounded  pebbles  make 
an  excellent  bed,  and  such  indeed  we  found  it. 
The  smooth  pebbles  slide  and  roll  over  one 
another,  and  adjust  themselves  perfectly  to  the 

79 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

form.  It  was  the  best  bed  surface  we  had  yet 
found.  Sand,  on  the  contrary,  though  appar- 
ently soft  and  yielding,  as  every  camper  knows 
makes  the  worst  possible  bed. 

Next  morning  we  paddled  along  the  north 
shore  of  the  lake,  observing  as  we  passed  every- 
thing worthy  of  note,  and  drew  up  our  canoe  for 
nooning  on  a  sand-spit  stretching  across  the  end 
of  the  lake  and  separating  it  from  an  estuary  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Louis  River,  up  which  we 
were  to  go.  This  narrow  sand-spit  runs  from 
the  north  shore  for  six  or  seven  miles  nearly  to 
the  south  shore,  where  there  is  the  only  open- 
ing into  the  St.  Louis.  Just  where  we  landed  is 
the  site  now  of  the  city  of  Duluth.  At  that 
time,  and  for  many  years  afterward,  there  was 
not  a  white  settlement  within  a  hundred  miles. 
"While  nooning  here,  I  took  a  delicious  swim  in 
the  warm  waters  of  the  estuary,  right  along  the 
present  water-front  of  Duluth. 

The  glory  of  the  voyage  up  the  St.  Louis 
River  that  afternoon  will  live  forever  in  my 
memory.  The  day  was  warm  and  still,  the  river 
was  wide  and  devious,  the  water  smooth  as  a 
mirror,  and  the  banks  clothed  in  richest  verdure. 
The  Indian  villages  were  strung  all  along  the 
river  at  intervals.     At  every  turn  we  would 

80 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

come  in  view  of  a  new  cluster  of  lodges,  and 
would  be  greeted  with  the  peculiar  shrill,  vib- 
ratory halloo,  characteristic  of  the  Indian,  made 
by  vibrating  the  hand  over  the  mouth.  Every 
greeting  would  be  answered  by  our  men  in  a 
similar  manner,  and  I  too  with  some  practise 
succeeded  fairly  well.  "We  camped  that  night 
at  Fond  du  Lac,  an  Indian  village  of  two  or 
three  hundred,  about  ten  miles  up  the  river, 
where  we  found  a  single  white  man,  a  Mr. 
Boilleau. 

Next  day  we  went  to  the  Falls,  the  Dalles  of 
the  St.  Louis,  where  there  is  a  portage  of  nine 
miles.  As  this  was  a  serious  undertaking,  we 
had  to  commence  it  in  the  early  morning,  and 
therefore  camped  here  for  the  rest  of  the  day. 
What  a  glorious  swim  I  took  in  the  roaring  cat- 
aract that  afternoon!  Some  twenty  or  thirty 
Indians,  men  and  boys,  had  come  from  Fond  du 
Lac  to  visit  our  camp.  As  I  went  down  the 
cataract  with  railroad  speed,  they  watched  me 
with  the  greatest  interest,  cheering  as  I  passed, 
and  screaming  with  delight  when  I  came  out  vic- 
torious. I  bantered  them  to  join  me,  but 
neither  entreaty  nor  jeering  would  induce  them 
to  try.  I  went  down  repeatedly  (walking  up  by 
land  each  time),  leaping  and  playing  in  the  roar- 
*  81 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ing  torrent,  laughing  and  screaming  with  de- 
light. 

Next  day  began  the  serious  business  of  the 
portage.  I  was  greatly  interested  in  the  won- 
derful capacity  of  those  men  as  beasts  of  bur- 
den; each  had  a  leathern  strap,  about  eighteen 
feet  long  and  an  inch  wide,  except  in  the  middle, 
where  it  was  three  inches  wide;  this  strap  was 
tied  about  each  end  of  my  trunk  by  Robideau, 
and  the  trunk  thrown  over  on  the  back,  with  the 
broad  strap  on  the  forehead.  This  was  prob- 
ably at  least  seventy-five  pounds ;  on  this  a  hun- 
dred pounds  of  pork  was  put,  and  on  this  again 
some  twenty-five  pounds  of  crackers,  making 
in  all  at  least  two  hundred  pounds.  With  this 
he  went  off  on  a  trot.  Francois  Salle  did  the 
same  with  John's  trunk,  and  one  hundred 
pounds  of'  flour  and  other  things,  to  make  up 
two  hundred  pounds,  and  followed  at  the  same 
gait.  "We  knew  we  could  not  make  more  than 
six  or  seven  miles,  so  we  remained  in  camp  un- 
til the  afternoon.  In  about  three-quarters  of 
an  hour,  the  men  came  back,  loaded  themselves 
again  in  the  same  manner,  and  went  off;  and 
we  saw  them  no  more  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon. 

About  four  o'clock  we  started  for  our  next 
82 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

camp.  This  was  our  first  experience  in  walking 
any  considerable  distance  in  moccasins.  The 
trail  was  very  rough  and  stony,  and  we  winced 
and  shrank  at  every  step.  We  soon  got  used  to 
it,  however,  or  the  ground  became  smoother, 
and  we  went  along  very  well.  About  half-way 
we  met  the  men  returning  for  their  last  load,  the 
canoe. 

On  the  way  we  observed  how  the  portage 
was  made.  The  whole  distance  was  divided 
into  stages  about  a  mile  apart.  The  first  load 
was  carried  to  the  first  stage  and  deposited,  and 
the  men  returned  to  camp  for  the  second  load; 
this  was  carried  two  miles  and  deposited,  then 
they  returned  to  stage  No.  1,  and  carried  the 
load  to  No.  3,  then  back  to  No.  2,  and  carried 
that  load  to  No.  4,  etc.,  until  all  except  the 
canoe  had  been  deposited  at  the  camp  for  the 
night. 

Then  the  men  returned  to  our  former  camp, 
took  up  the  canoe,  one  at  each  end,  and  car- 
ried it  the  seven  miles  to  the  new  camp.  It  is 
seen  then  that  they  went  over  the  ground 
five  times,  equaling  thirty-five  miles,  and  one- 
half  the  time  each  was  loaded  with  two  hundred 
pounds.  It  certainly  was  an  extraordinary  feat 
of  strength  and  endurance ;  one  that  I  do  not  be- 

83 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

lieve  any  other  animal  of  similar  size  could  pos- 
sibly accomplish.  The  peculiarity  of  man  in 
which  he  is  superior  to  any  other  animal,  is  his 
capacity  for  training.  Moreover,  I  believe  that 
the  white  race  is  superior  in  this  respect  to  any 
other  race;  and  still  more,  that  even  in  white 
men,  good  blood  tells  in  this  regard,  as  it  does 
in  horses.  The  great  difference  in  men  consists 
mainly  in  the  capacity  for  improvement  by 
training:  some  improve  greatly  and  indefi- 
nitely; some  hardly  at  all,  and  quickly  reach 
their  limit. 

Early  next  morning  while  we  were  eating 
our  breakfast,  a  party  of  Indians,  men,  women, 
and  children,  passed  our  camp,  making  the  same 
portage;  but  as  they  had  little  baggage  they 
traveled  fast,  and  we  saw  them  no  more.  The 
men  were  stark  naked,  except  for  a  narrow 
breech-cloth,  that  passed  between  the  legs  and 
under  a  belt  around  the  waist ;  and  carried  noth- 
ing except  their  bows  and  arrows.  The  women 
were  better  clothed,  indeed,  but  each  was  bowed 
beneath  a  heavy  load.  One  of  them  carried  the 
canoe  on  her  head,  bottom  upward,  like  an  im- 
mense scoop-bonnet.  Soon  after  the  Indians 
passed  we  left  our  camp,  which  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  dense  forest,  on  the  margin  of  a  beautiful 

84 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

streamlet ;  and  re-commenced  our  portage  in  the 
same  style  as  yesterday.  We  easily  finished 
the  remaining  three  miles  by  noon,  and  em- 
barked again. 

We  had  been  told  at  La  Pointe  that  we 
should  find  the  mosquitoes  very  bad  in  some 
parts  of  the  country  passed  over,  and  had  made 
preparations  accordingly.  It  was  here  that  we 
began  to  feel  these  torments.  We  had  indeed 
felt  a  few  at  Eagle  Harbor,  and  at  nearly  all  our 
camps  on  Lake  Superior ;  but  here  they  became 
intolerable.  On  this  day,  for  the  first  time  since 
we  left  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  the  sky  was  cloudy. 
Not  only  had  we  now  mosquitoes  all  day,  but 
also  brulos.  These  are  almost  invisible  black 
gnats,  somewhat  like  the  sand-fleas  of  the  South, 
but  still  smaller  and  black ;  and  are  called  brulos 
on  account  of  the  burning  sensation  produced  by 
their  bites.  Here,  therefore,  for  the  first  time 
we  had  to  "  take  the  veil."  We  had  prepared 
these  at  La  Pointe.  A  mosquito  bar  sewed  up 
into  a  cylinder,  was  drawn  around  the  hat  crown, 
over  the  shoulders  and  arms,  and  stuffed  into 
the  bosom;  while  the  hands  were  protected  by 
gloves.  But  we  must  eat;  we  were  compelled, 
therefore,  to  make  a  smudge  fire,  and  to  put  our 
heads  in  the  smoke  while  eating.    But  the  veils 

85 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

did  not  protect  us  from  the  brulos :  these  little 
pests  would  crawl  up  the  sleeves,  under  the  col- 
lars, everywhere. 

To  protect  ourselves  from  mosquitoes  while 
sleeping  we  took  a  sheet  just  big  enough  to  fill 
the  tent  when  pinned  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground.  Around  this  we  had  sewed  mosquito 
netting,  so  that  when  pinned  in  the  tent  it  would 
hang  down  all  around  as  a  curtain  to  the  ground. 
To  hold  this  down  securely  an  edging  of  double 
sheeting  was  attached  all  around,  and  this  was 
filled  with  small  bird-shot.  As  soon  as  the  tent 
was  pitched,  we  made  down  the  bed,  then  pinned 
up  the  sheet  so  as  to  make  a  ceiling  three  feet 
above  the  bed,  and  put  the  net  curtain  with  its 
shot-loaded  border  on  the  top  of  the  sheet.  By 
this  time  the  mosquitoes  would  be  thick  in  the 
tent.  I  then  put  a  handful  of  gunpowder  on  a 
piece  of  paper  or  bark  in  the  middle  of  the  bed, 
and  after  setting  the  tent  door  wide  open, 
touched  off  the  powder.  The  sulphurous  smoke 
killed  or  drove  out  all  the  mosquitoes ;  we 
quickly  put  down  the  net,  and  secured  it  well. 
When  ready  to  go  to  bed,  after  undressing,  we 
slipped  under  the  netting  with  the  greatest  care. 
In  this  way  we  slept  in  peace,  the  humming  of 
the  mosquitoes  only  lulling  us  to  deeper  slum- 

86 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

ber.     Fortunately,  the  brulos  do  not  fly  about 
after  nightfall. 

Here  we  took  into  our  canoe  two  half-breed 
French  Indians,  on  condition  that  they  worked 
their  passage;  so  we  now  had  four  paddlers. 
As  the  water  was  smooth,  except  for  two  or 
three  bad  rapids,  which  we  passed  over  success- 
fully, we  progressed  rapidly;  the  men  singing 
their  boat-songs  together,  and  keeping  time  with 
their  paddles.  The  music  was  rude,  but  really 
inspiriting. 

This  day  for  the  first  time  we  passed  over 
rapids  in  our  canoe.  I  was  much  interested  in 
the  skill  and  care  of  the  men  in  managing  it,  and 
especially  in  the  extreme  care  with  which  they 
repaired  the  least  scratch  of  its  tender  surface. 
As  soon  as  we  made  camp,  they  drew  up  the 
canoe  and  pitched  our  tent.  They  then  turned 
the  canoe  bottom  upward,  and  made  the  most 
careful  inspection  of  every  part.  The  least 
crack  or  bruise  was  plastered  with  tamarack 
gum,  and  a  hot  iron  passed  over  it.  This  was 
done  every  night  until  we  reached  Fort  Snelling. 
In  a  similar  way  canoes  are  patched  with  birch 
bark,  the  patch  being  sewn  in  with  tamarack 
roots  and  covered  with  gum ;  but  our  canoe  was 
never  broken. 

87 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

One  would  suppose  that  rising  by  successive 
rapids  to  higher  and  higher  levels,  we  would 
have  reached  drier  country,  but  not  so.  The 
country  seems  to  be  a  level  plateau,  abounding 
in  shallow,  rushy  lakes.  The  rivers  are  very 
sluggish,  tortuous,  and  marshy.  The  mos- 
quitoes became  worse  and  worse.  Finally, 
when  we  turned  off  into  a  little  savanna  river, 
even  more  tortuous  and  marshy  than  usual,  we 
were  compelled  to  make  a  smudge  fire  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  canoe,  on  a  little  earth  put  there  for 
this  purpose.  Protected  by  the  smoke,  and  also 
by  our  veils  and  gloves,  we  got  along  very  well; 
but  the  men  in  the  front  of  the  canoe  were  so 
covered  with  mosquitoes  that  it  was  impossible 
to  tell  the  color  of  their  clothing  or  hats — all 
was  a  uniform  gray.  About  noon  we  reached 
another  portage.  As  this  was  but  three  or  four 
miles  over  the  low  sandy  divide  between  the  St. 
Louis  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  it  was  easily  made, 
with  the  help  of  the  two  additional  men,  after 
the  noon  meal.  John  and  I  walked  leisurely 
over  while  the  men  carried  the  canoe  and  bag- 
gage. About  five  o'clock  we  took  canoe  again 
on  another  savanna  river  and  paddled  thence 
to  Sandy  Lake,  where  the  two  additional  men 
left  us. 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

At  the  Indian  agency  here,  where  as  usual 
there  was  a  considerable  Indian  settlement, 
some  twenty  or  thirty  bark  lodges,  we  found 
two  white  men,  the  first,  with  a  single  exception, 
that  we  had  seen  since  leaving  La  Pointe  nearly 
two  weeks  before.  They  were  the  Indian 
agent,  who  as  usual  had  married  an  Indian  and 
had  a  swarm  of  half-breed  children,  and  Mr. 
Clarke,  a  Methodist  missionary,  an  intelligent 
and  well-educated  young  man,  whose  society  we 
enjoyed  very  greatly. 

Sandy  Lake  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water ;  ex- 
tremely irregular  in  form  and  with  well-wooded 
shores,  it  is  very  picturesque.  We  stayed  here 
several  days  for  the  sake  of  rest  for  our  men 
and  of  clothes-washing  and  change  of  diet  for 
ourselves,  for  our  camp  fare  was  the  worst  I 
ever  saw.  I  have  camped  a  great  deal  since  and 
always  fared  well,  but  on  this  first  trip  the  fare 
was  hard  indeed.  Youth  and  high  spirits  can, 
however,  stand  anything.  All  we  had  was 
flour,  messpork,  hardtack,  tea,  coffee,  and 
maple-sugar.  An  iron  pot  was  our  only  cooking 
utensil;  we  had  not  even  a  pan  for  mixing 
dough.  The  flour  bag  was  opened  at  one  end, 
the  flour  hollowed  at  the  top,  and  a  little  water 
poured  into  the  hollow  and  mixed  until  it  had 

89 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

taken  up  flour  enough  to  make  a  dough.  This 
was  then  kneaded  in  the  hand  and  made  into 
balls  that  were  thrown  into  the  pot  with  hunks 
of  pork  and  boiled.  These  tough,  solid,  indi- 
gestible balls,  the  men  called  "  bondins."  I 
tried  them  only  once ;  after  that  I  took  my  por- 
tion of  the  dough,  mixed  it  and  beat  it,  putting 
in  a  little  lard,  pressed  it  into  a  long  snakelike 
form,  wound  it  about  a  dry  stick,  and  stuck  it 
before  the  fire,  turning  it  when  necessary. 
When  it  was  browned,  I  pulled  out  the  stick  and 
devoured  the  hollow  cylinder  with  relish.  The 
pork  I  sliced,  and  toasted  with  a  forked  stick. 
At  Sandy  Lake  we  were  able  to  vary  our  diet 
somewhat,  for  here  we  found  an  abundance  of 
fish. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  we  took  a  delight- 
ful swim  in  the  clear,  warm  water  of  the  lake. 
Mr.  Clarke  joined  us,  and  brought  with  him  a 
bright,  active,  handsome  Indian  boy  of  fourteen 
years.  The  boy  and  I  were  the  only  good  swim- 
mers, and  we  had  great  sport  racing  with  one 
another.  I  was  by  far  the  more  rapid  and  ex- 
pert swimmer,  but  he  was  the  most  expert  diver 
I  ever  saw.  I  would  rush  after  him,  and  would 
be  just  about  to  overtake  and  duck  him,  when 
he  would  disappear,  and  a  moment  later  through 

90 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

the  clear  water  I  could  see  him  about  seven  feet 
below,  swimming  with  great  velocity,  assisting 
himself  by  his  hands  against  the  bottom.  I  could 
not  overtake  him  there,  but  as  soon  as  he  came 
to  the  surface  again  for  breath,  I  was  after  him, 
and  he  would  again  disappear  just  as  I  was 
about  to  grasp  him.  It  was  only  after  he  was 
well  exhausted  that  I  succeeded  in  capturing 
him.  I  greatly  enjoyed  our  stay  here,  and,  of 
course,  we  repeated  the  swim  and  the  chase  the 
next  day. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  we  were  off 
again;  and  in  half  an  hour,  we  rushed  with  a 
hurrah  into  the  swift  current  of  the  Mississippi. 
Day  after  day,  for  more  than  a  week,  we  sped 
swiftly  down  the  mighty  stream,  which,  how- 
ever, was  not  so  very  mighty  where  we  first 
struck  it.  There  was  but  little  variation  in  the 
incidents  from  day  to  day,  and  still  less  in  the 
scenery:  one  continuous  stretch  of  prairie,  with 
here  and  there  a  few  trees  bordering  the  river ; 
the  surface  of  the  country  dotted  over  with  in- 
numerable little  lakes,  invisible,  however,  to  us 
on  the  river.  I  mention  very  briefly  two  or 
three  incidents  on  the  way. 

Soon  after  entering  the  great  river  we 
stopped  for  noon  at  an  enormous  Indian  lodge, 

91 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

seventy  to  eighty  feet  long  and  thirty  feet  wide, 
the  home  of  a  very  great  chief,  about  sixty  years 
of  age.  In  it  he  lived  with  his  ten  wives  and,  I 
was  told,  seventy  children.  I  did  not  count 
them,  but  I  do  not  think  the  estimate  extrava- 
gant. 

As  we  passed  down  the  river  we  frequently 
met  Indians  in  their  canoes,  and  traded  with 
them,  flour  or  pork  for  fish  or  venison.  From 
time  to  time,  also,  I  shot  ducks  on  the  river  with 
a  gun  we  had  brought  from  La  Pointe.  They 
were  not  very  good,  being  rather  fishy ;  but  any- 
thing was  better  than  the  mess  pork  and  "  bon- 
dins."  At  night  we  usually  pitched  our  tent  in 
the  vicinity  of  an  Indian  village,  partly  to  im- 
prove our  fare  by  the  addition  of  fish  or  venison, 
and  partly  because  the  Indians  always  select  for 
their  village  sites  high  and  dry  places,  healthy 
and  free  from  mosquitoes. 

Once  we  stopped  at  noon  at  the  cabin  of  a 
white  man,  a  tall,  straight,  fine-looking,  some- 
what grizzled  pioneer,  with  a  squaw  wife  and 
half-breed  children.  He  received  us  with 
boundless  hospitality,  as  well  he  might,  for  he 
had  not  seen  a  white  face  for  six  months.  For  a 
similar  reason  we  were  also  glad  to  greet  him. 
This  was  the  only  white  man  we  saw  in  our 

92 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

whole  route  from  Sand  Lake  to  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  a  distance  of  four  or  five  hundred 
miles. 

To  relieve  the  tedium  of  the  way,  and  also 
for  the  sake  of  exercise,  I  often  took  an  extra 
paddle  and  worked  my  way,  for  I  was  a  skilful 
manager  of  a  canoe,  having  learned  this,  as  has 
been  said,  in  my  boyhood  on  the  old  plantation. 
We  passed  over  several  rapids  on  the  way,  and 
in  one  case  over  a  nearly  perpendicular  fall  of 
three  or  four  feet,  which  the  men  called  Petite 
Chute,  or  Little  Fall.  On  approaching  this 
they  put  out  all  their  strength,  I  also  assisting, 
and  the  canoe  was  literally  shot  over  the  little 
precipice,  and  fell  lightly  and  gracefully  on  the 
smooth  water  below.  This  is  called  "  shooting 
the  falls." 

As  we  continued  day  after  day,  the  river  in- 
creased constantly  in  volume  by  the  addition  of 
the  waters  of  tributaries  on  each  side.  These 
were  named  by  the  men  as  we  passed,  but  we 
paused  not ;  for  we  were  impatient  of  the  mon- 
otony of  the  long  passage. 

We  were  now  approaching  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  where  the  great  river  pitches  over  a 
precipice  a  hundred  feet  high.  About  noon  we 
reached  the  top  and  stopped  for  lunch,  drawing 

93 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tip  our  canoe  on  the  very  spot  where  Minneapolis 
was  founded  five  years  later.  There  was  then 
there  a  single  log  cabin,  and  one  white  man  trad- 
ing with  the  Indians.  After  nooning  here  we 
made  a  portage  of  about  half  a  mile  around  the 
fall,  and  put  in  again  below.  While  the  men 
were  making  the  portage  we  enjoyed  the  view 
of  the  fall,  and  examined  the  structure  of  the 
rocks.  As  the  gorge  below  the  fall  is  narrow, 
the  current  is  very  swift,  and  we  went  down 
"  a-kiting."  I  was  intensely  interested  in 
studying  the  structure  of  the  gorge.  The  cliff 
is  about  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  consists  of 
soft,  cream-colored  sandstone,  capped  with  a 
layer  of  hard,  dark-blue  limestone.  The  sand- 
stone was  so  soft  that  I  could  reach  out 
as  we  flew  swiftly  by  and  take  out  hand- 
fuls  with  my  fingers.  I  at  once  saw,  or  sus- 
pected, the  mode  of  origin  of  this  gorge,  by  the 
recession  of  the  fall,  for  I  already  knew  the  his- 
tory of  the  Niagara  gorge.  My  conclusions 
were  completely  confirmed  by  the  existence  in 
this  case,  also,  of  an  escarpment  at  the  mouth  of 
the  gorge  eight  miles  below  the  fall,  at  Fort 
Snelling.  All  this  was  duly  recorded  in  my 
journal,  but  never  published,  because  I  was  then 
too  young  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  the 

94 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

observations  I  had  made,  and,  indeed,  too  little 
acquainted  with  geological  literature  to  know 
that  there  was  anything  new  in  them.  A  few 
years  afterward  others  made  the  same  observa- 
tions, and  gave  the  same  explanation. 

About  three  in  the  afternoon  we  turned  into 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's,  now  called  the  Min- 
nesota River,  and  landed  at  the  little  straggling 
village  of  St.  Peter's,  containing  then  about  one 
hundred  inhabitants,  mostly  Indians.  The  pres- 
ent town  of  Mendota  may  be  its  development,  as 
it  has  a  somewhat  similar  situation.  Here  we 
had  a  serious  altercation  with  our  guides.  They 
said  that  their  time  was  up,  and  they  must  go 
back  to  La  Pointe.  We  told  them,  to  their  great 
surprise,  that  we  had  engaged  them  for  forty 
days,  and  paid  the  whole  amount — viz.,  eighty 
dollars.  They  declared  that  Dr.  Borup  had  hired 
them  only  for  twenty-eight  days,  and  that  it 
would  take  all  the  remainder — i.  e.,  a  week — to 
get  back.  We  told  them  that  we  intended  to  go  up 
the  St.  Peter's — Minnesota — River,  and  explore 
the  Sioux  country.  In  answer  they  said  that 
not  only  had  they  fulfilled  their  contract,  but 
that  the  Sioux  Indians  were  treacherous  and 
dangerous,  and  exploring  that  country  would  be 
at  the  risk  of  their  lives.    When  still  urged, 

95 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

they  flatly  refused  to  go.  There  was  nothing  to 
be  done  except  to  bid  them  good-by.  They  left 
the  same  afternoon,  going  down  the  Mississippi 
to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  then  up  that  river 
and  over  the  portage  into  the  Bois  Brule,  and 
thence  into  Lake  Superior ;  which,  as  already  ex- 
plained, is  the  most  direct  route  to  La  Pointe. 
In  justice  to  Dr.  Borup,  I  should  state  that  after 
returning  to  New  York,  I  wrote  to  him,  and  that 
the  money,  twenty-four  dollars,  was  promptly 
refunded. 

Our  camping-trip  therefore  ended  here.  We 
sold  out  our  tent  and  bedding,  blankets  and 
buffalo-robes,  and  leaving  our  trunks  at  St. 
Peter's  under  suitable  charge,  hired  a  boat  to 
take  us  over  the  river.  Having  climbed  the 
cliff,  or  escarpment,  on  which  Fort  Snelling  is 
built,  we  delivered  our  letters  from  Dr.  Holden 
to  Dr.  Turner,  the  surgeon  of  the  fort.  He  re- 
ceived us  with  great  cordiality,  and  invited  us 
to  stay  at  the  fort  until  the  steamer  from  below 
should  arrive.  We  were  given  comfortable 
rooms  in  the  parsonage,  and  invited  to  take  our 
meals  with  Dr.  Turner's  family.  Our  trunks  were 
sent  for,  and  arrived  in  due  time,  and  we  were 
soon  pleasantly  settled  for  a  week.  We  put  on 
decent  clothes,  exchanged  our  moccasions  for 

96 


TEIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

walking  shoes,  and  were  ready  for  dinner.  We 
found  Mrs.  Turner  a  charming  woman,  and  en- 
joyed her  society  the  more  as  we  had  seen  noth- 
ing but  Indians  and  half-breeds  since  leaving 
Mackinac.  We  greatly  enjoyed  the  dinner,  too, 
for  that  very  day  the  game-laws  imposed  by  the 
officers  on  themselves  ended,  and  they  had 
brought  in  about  a  hundred  prairie  chickens. 
Dr.  Turner,  a  famous  sportsman,  was  especially 
successful,  his  pack  being  about  thirty. 

In  our  quarters,  the  parsonage,  we  found 
also  domiciled  two  very  pleasant  gentlemen,  a 
Mr.  Stockbridge,  a  young  Episcopalian  clergy- 
man, traveling,  and  temporarily  acting  as  chap- 
lain, and  Mr.  Placide,  the  distinguished  actor, 
whom  I  had  seen  on  the  stage  in  New  York  in 
his  favorite  play,  "  London  Assurance,"  then 
the  rage.  With  these  gentlemen  I  had  much 
pleasant  conversation,  and  with  the  former 
many  pleasant  rambles  in  the  vicinity. 

The  shooting  of  prairie-fowl  still  continued 
almost  daily,  and  our  table  was  always  well  sup- 
plied with  delicious  game.  As  from  early  boyhood 
I  had  been  passionately  fond  of  hunting,  I  some- 
times borrowed  a  gun  and  joined  the  shooting 
excursions ;  but  my  success  was  only  indifferent. 

The  favorite  walk  with  Mr.  Stockbridge  was 
8  97 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

to  Minnehaha  Falls,  at  that  time  called  "  Little 
River  Falls,"  for  it  had  not  then  been  immortal- 
ized by  Longfellow.  It  is  a  beautiful  fall  of 
a  considerable  stream,  about  seventy  feet  per- 
pendicular; and  as  it  is  not  more  than  two  or 
three  miles  from  the  fort,  we  often  visited  it. 

Its  origin  is  evident.  The  Mississippi 
worked  back  from  the  escarpment  about  two 
miles,  then  still  back  across  the  mouth  of  the 
Minnehaha  River,  which  then  for  the  first  time 
fell  into  the  gorge  and  began  to  work  back  also. 
And  while  the  greater  river  has  worked  back  six 
miles  to  Minneapolis,  the  smaller  has  receded  two 
or  three  miles  to  the  present  position  of  the  falls. 
Of  course  we  have  here  also  the  same  limestone 
cap,  underlain  with  the  soft  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

To  Lake  Harriet  was  a  favorite  drive,  and  I 
often  went  there  with  the  ladies;  but  I  walked 
there  but  once,  for  it  was  about  eight  miles.  It 
is  a  circular  lake,  about  a  mile  in  diameter,  with 
clear,  bright  water  and  clean,  pebbly  beach,  and 
is  surrounded  with  dense  woods,  that  contrast 
delightfully  with  the  bare,  yellow,  endlessly 
stretching  prairie. 

After  we  had  spent  a  delightful  week  here, 
the  steamer  arrived  from  below,  and  we  took  re- 
gretful leave  of  our  good  friends.     Soon  after 

98 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

leaving,  we  passed,  I  remember  well,  a  little  vil- 
lage of  about  two  hundred  people,  which  I  was 
told  was  called  St.  Paul.  That  night  we  passed 
through  Lake  Pepin,  an  enlargement  of  the 
river.  The  banks  here  are  bold,  almost  moun- 
tainous, and  the  scenery  beautiful ;  and  as  it  was 
bright  moonlight,  I  sat  on  the  upper  deck  and 
enjoyed  the  view.  The  boat  stopped  from  time 
to  time,  but  we  did  not  leave  it  until  we  got  to 
Galena.  A  little  before  we  reached  our  destina- 
tion, Nauvoo  and  the  splendid  Mormon  temple 
were  pointed  out.  There  was  at  that  time  in- 
tense excitement  on  the  subject  of  the  Mor- 
mons, for  it  was  only  a  few  weeks  before  this 
that  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith  had  been  shot  in 
jail  by  a  mob;  and  not  long  after  I  passed,  in 
1846,  the  Mormons  were  driven  out  of  Illinois, 
and  their  temple  burned.  After  some  wander- 
ings, they  settled,  as  is  well  known,  at  Salt  Lake. 
At  Galena  we  stopped  nearly  a  week,  to  ex- 
amine the  lead-mines  there,  as  we  wished  to 
study  the  mode  of  occurrence  of  the  ore,  the 
method  of  smelting,  etc.  "We  even  took  boat 
and  visited  mines  at  Dubuque,  Iowa.  To  the 
early  interest  thus  excited,  I  attribute  the  fact 
that  this  has  been  a  favorite  subject  of  investi- 
gation with  me. 

99 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

From  Galena  we  again  took  boat  to  St. 
Louis.  John  had  written  to  his  father  to  send 
him  money  here,  but  on  inquiry  found  that  it 
had  not  arrived,  and  was  in  despair.  He  was 
entirely  out  of  funds  and  stranded.  I  had 
not  money  enough  for  both.  What  should  he 
do?  In  this  dilemma  an  old  friend  of  his  ad- 
vanced the  money,  and  after  two  days  of  awful 
heat  in  St.  Louis,  we  again  took  boat  down  the 
river,  thence  up  the  Ohio  to  Pittsburg,  and  from 
there  by  railroad  back  to  New  York.  After  an 
absence  of  more  than  three  months,  we  arrived 
there  in  August ;  and  our  famous  trip  was  done. 

Again  I  commenced  the  old  grind,  six  hours 
every  day,  six  days  a  week.  And  the  same 
grind  with  Sayre  in  the  evenings.  There  was, 
however,  in  reality  but  little  grind  in  Sayre's 
office,  for  he  was  almost  as  much  a  boy  as  any 
of  us.  We  sometimes  had  a  "  high  old  time  " 
and  made  so  much  noise  as  to  scandalize  the 
neighborhood.  It  was  something  like  the  office 
of  Bob  Sawyer  and  Ben  Allen  of  Pickwick  fame. 
It  was  not  quite  so  jolly  this  year,  however,  as 
last,  when  Sayre  joined  heartily  in  our  sports. 
But  he  had  married  in  the  meantime,  and  Mrs. 
Sayre,  a  most  charming  and  cultured  woman, 
was  boarding  in  the  same  house.    Out  of  re- 

100 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

spect  for  his  wife,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  he  now 
restrained  himself  and  ns,  and  our  real  work 
of  review  of  the  lectures  proceeded  more  suc- 
cessfully than  before.  I  again,  of  course,  un- 
dertook charity  practise  among  the  poor,  and 
attended  the  hospitals  whenever  I  could,  but 
only  to  witness  important  operations. 

The  morning  course  of  lectures  extended 
from  9  a.  m.  to  1  p.  m.  ;  the  afternoon  lectures 
from  4  to  6  p.  m.  ;  our  dinner  was  at  3,  so  from  1 
to  3  was  free.  On  first  entering  the  college  I 
had  joined  a  gymnasium,  partly  for  the  sake  of 
health,  partly  because  I  was  fond  of  athletics, 
and  these  two  hours  I  spent  in  gymnastic  exer- 
cises of  all  kinds.  On  leaving  the  college  on 
Crosby  Street,  near  Grand,  I  walked  to  the  gym- 
nasium on  the  corner  of  Chambers  Street  and 
Broadway.  As  my  object  was  only  health, 
strength,  and  activity,  I  took  no  lessons  of  any 
kind;  but  paid  merely  for  the  use  of  the  gym- 
nasium, and  practised  on  my  own  account.  I 
became  the  most  active  and  expert  man  in  the 
gymnasium,  some  of  my  feats  being  worth  men- 
tioning. I  could  hold  out  at  arm's  length  thirty- 
six  pounds;  grasp  a  pole  and  hold  myself  out 
horizontally ;  brace  my  back  against  an  upright, 
take  the  rings  well  shortened  up,  and  push  out 

101 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

eighty-four  pounds  on  each  side ;  drawing  in  the 
rings,  I  could  rise  with  my  hands  to  my  hips 
without  jerk,  even  when  twenty-eight  pounds 
were  tied  to  my  feet ;  could  "  skin  the  cat "  in 
the  rings,  turning  my  shoulders  in  the  sockets, 
and  could  do  the  same  backwards.  I  could 
vault  straight  between  my  hands  over  a  hori- 
zontal bar  as  high  as  my  head;  jump  up  and 
grasp  a  bar,  hang  dead,  and  throw  myself  feet 
foremost  clean  over  without  touching ;  tie  a  hun- 
dred pounds  to  my  feet  and  pull  myself  up  till 
my  chin  was  above  my  fists,  a  feat  that  I  later 
accomplished  with  a  hundred  and  twenty  pounds 
tied  to  my  feet,  making  the  total  weight  lifted 
two  hundred  and  fifty-five  pounds.  I  could  pull 
myself  up  with  one  arm  till  my  chin  was  above 
my  fist.  This,  the  acme  gymnastic  feat,  no  one 
else  in  the  gymnasium  could  do  from  the  dead 
point.  About  a  year  after  leaving  the  gymna- 
sium, however,  I  could  not  only  do  it  twice  with 
the  right  arm  but  once  with  the  left.  I  also  prac- 
tised boxing  and  wrestling  and  became  some- 
what expert,  though  I  took  no  lessons,  as  I  could 
spare  neither  the  time  nor  the  money. 

During  this  winter  I  became  well  acquainted 
with  many  scientific  men,  especially  the  ornithol- 
ogists Giraud,  Bell,  Baird,  and  particularly  Au- 

102 


TRIP  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 

dubon.  Audubon  lived  about  ten  miles  out  of 
town  in  a  large  house  surrounded  by  grand  and 
beautiful  trees,  immediately  on  the  Hudson. 
I  often  rode  out  with  my  brother  John  to  spend 
the  day  with  him  and  his  wife,  and  enjoyed  the 
visits  immensely.  He  was  then  about  seventy  and 
one  of  the  most  imposing  men  I  ever  saw;  tall, 
erect,  with  eagle  eye  and  nose,  and  abundant 
snow-white  hair  brushed  straight  back  from  his 
lofty  brow.  His  wife  was  a  tall  and  stately 
dame,  and  they  were  indeed  a  grand-looking 
couple.  Their  sons  John  and  Victor  were  with 
them,  and  often  took  us  out  on  the  river  in  their 
boat. 

I  graduated  in  April,  1845,  after  writing  a 
creditable  thesis,  on  which  I  was  publicly  exam- 
ined. I  was  privately  examined  on  the  subjects 
of  the  lecture  courses  and  given  my  diploma. 
This  is  the  only  one  of  my  diplomas  that  I  have 
not  now  (1900)  with  me.  About  ten  years  ago 
Dr.  Dalton,  the  distinguished  physiologist,  then 
president  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, wrote  to  me  that  he  was  making  up  a  set 
of  diplomas,  one  from  each  class,  and  wished 
mine  as  representative  of  the  class  of  1845.  I 
sent  it  to  him,  and  it  is  at  present  deposited  in 
the  archives  of  the  College. 

103 


CHAPTER   IV 

TRIPS    TO    THE    GEOKGIA   MOUNTAINS;    MARRIAGE; 
MEDICAL   PRACTISE 

Yes,  I  graduated  as  Doctor  of  Medicine  in 
1845;  just  fifty-five  years  ago  I  was  invested 
with  the  grave  responsibilities  of  life  and  death. 
I  felt  then,  and  see  still  more  clearly  now,  how 
utterly  unfitted  I  was  to  assume  the  terrible 
responsibilities  of  medical  practise.  At  that 
time  the  courses  were  shamefully  incomplete. 
This  troubled  me  little  at  that  time,  however, 
because  I  did  not  expect  to  practise.  I  was  in- 
dependent, and  had  studied  medicine  mainly  as 
the  best  preparation  for  science. 

Immediately  after  graduation  I  bade  good- 
by  to  dear  old  Uncle  Jack  and  "  John  L."  and 
went  South.  I  visited  a  few  days  with  my 
brothers  John  and  Lewis  in  Savannah,  and  took 
formal  possession  of  my  property,  which  John 
had  been  managing  for  me.  I  then  went  out  to 
Liberty  County  and  stayed  for  some  time  at  the 

104 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

homes  of  different  relatives.  In  those  days 
literally  everybody  was  glad  to  see  everybody 
else  and  to  have  a  visitor  stay  as  long  as  pos- 
sible, and  no  one  had  the  least  hesitation  in 
doing  so. 

My  interest  in  ornithology  continuing,  on  my 
return  from  New  York  I  made  a  collection  of 
birds,  shooting,  determining,  labeling,  and  stuff- 
ing all  the  species  of  birds  in  the  South,  except 
some  of  the  sea-birds.  This  collection  I  gave  to 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  1857. 

In  the  spring  of  1845  I  read  with  great  inter- 
est a  book  that  had  just  been  published,  Ves- 
tiges of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation,  and 
fervently  discussed  it  with  my  brother-in-law, 
Dr.  Harden.  This  was  my  first  introduction  to 
the  doctrine  of  evolution. 

About  July  I  went  to  the  commencement 
at  Athens  and  there  joined  a  party  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen — nine  in  all — on  a  trip  to  the 
mountains  and  falls.  We  were  gone  about  a 
month,  and,  as  is  usual  in  such  parties,  Cupid 
was  busy.  But  my  heart  was  untouched ;  I  had 
not  yet  met  my  fate. 

At  Decatur,  where  the  party  broke  up,  I  met 
my  old  friend  John  T.  Nisbet,  and  after  a  week 
there  tramping  around  the  country  and  swim- 

105 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ming  daily  in  the  mill-pond,  we  decided  to  go 
to  the  mountains  by  ourselves  with  no  women 
to  molest  us  or  make  afraid.  We  enjoyed  it  all 
immensely,  but  especially  our  stay  at  Beal's  at 
Tallulah  Falls,  the  most  beautiful  place  in  upper 
Georgia. 

Beal  was  a  queer  character;  tall,  straight, 
athletic,  pompous,  and  self -conceited ;  unedu- 
cated, but  with  many  grand  phrases,  especially 
Latin  phrases,  that  he  had  picked  up  from  tran- 
sient visitors  and  used  on  all  occasions.  In  giv- 
ing an  account  of  his  coming  to  this  place,  he 
was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  "  went  to  work 
without  tools  of  any  kind  manibus  pedihusque" 
He  always  brought  out  his  three  little  children 
and  introduced  them  to  strangers  in  the  most 
grandiloquent  and  theatrical  manner.  "  This," 
he  would  say,  "  is  Rollo ;  this,"  pointing  to 
another,  "  is  Tallulah ;  and  this,  Magnolia." 
Then  sweeping  his  hand  around  he  would  add, 
"  Historical,  geographical,  and  botanical."  His 
wife  was  a  meek,  uncomplaining  woman,  but 
withal  a  most  excellent  cook  and  housewife.  I 
never  sat  down  to  a  finer  table — venison  and 
wild  turkey  deliriously  roasted,  and  such  rolls, 
green  corn  and  tomatoes,  and  apple  pie !  Their 
house  was  the  roughest  log  hut  imaginable,  lit- 

106 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

erally  made  with  no  tools  but  the  ax.  As  their 
patronage  increased,  it  had  been  added  to  from 
time  to  time,  so  that  the  whole  presented  a  curi- 
ous and  really  picturesque  appearance. 

While  here  we  explored  the  Tallulah  chasm 
from  end  to  end,  doing  all  sorts  of  foolhardy 
things,  such  as  young  men  love.  We  crossed  to 
the  other  side,  climbed  down  to  the  Witches' 
Cave,  supposed  to  be  inaccessible,  and  came  out 
at  the  door,  creeping  on  hands  and  knees  along 
a  ledge  eighteen  inches  wide  with  a  sheer  preci- 
pice at  the  side  of  five  hundred  feet.  Once 
while  exploring  the  chasm  we  were  overtaken  by 
nightfall  and  climbed  from  the  bottom  up  the 
Devil's  Pulpit  in  the  dark,  reaching  Beal's,  tired 
and  hungry,  about  ten  at  night.  Beal  declared 
that  he  would  not  undertake  the  climb  in  broad 
daylight. 

Just  above  the  principal  fall,  the  Tempesta, 
there  is  a  pool  about  a  hundred  feet  long  and 
fifty  wide,  into  which  the  Hurricane  Fall  rushes 
at  a  steep  angle  and  out  of  which  plunges  the 
Tempesta,  a  hundred  feet  perpendicular.  It  is 
called  Hawthorn's  Pool,  because  a  young  Pres- 
byterian minister  of  that  name  was  drowned  in 
it,  a  fate  that  several  others,  though  good  swim- 
mers, are  said  to  have  narrowly  escaped.    It  had 

107 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

therefore  a  bad  name  and  every  one  was  afraid 
of  it.  The  water  swirls  about  in  an  ugly  way,  and 
it  was  believed  that  there  were  whirling  down- 
currents  that  were  dangerous.  I  was  a  splendid 
swimmer,  and  after  looking  over  the  pool  care- 
fully, determined  to  try  it.  I  swam  all  over  it 
with  safety,  feeling  a  little  tugging  at  my  feet  in 
places,  but  finding  no  danger  for  a  good  swim- 
mer. Thereafter  I  enjoyed  my  swim  every  day, 
for  it  was  in  September,  too  late  in  the  season 
for  visitors. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  we  returned  to  De- 
catur, thence  to  Macon,  and  thence,  in  Novem- 
ber, to  Liberty  County.  And  here  occurred  an- 
other, and  perhaps  the  greatest,  crisis  of  my 
life.  For  here  I  met  my  destiny;  I  fell  in 
love!  Ah,  it  makes  my  blood  tingle  even  yet 
at  seventy-seven  to  think  of  that  winter!  I 
had  once  before  felt  a  little  precordial  agita- 
tion, but  compared  with  this  it  was  nothing. 
The  effect,  too,  was  entirely  different :  the  other 
was  premature;  it  was  "puppy-love";  it  was 
sentimental  and  make-believe  in  comparison; 
it  was  weakening  and  melancholy,  This,  on 
the  contrary,  was  stimulating  and  joyous,  in- 
creasing the  whole  manhood,  physical  and  spirit- 
ual, strengthening  every  existing  faculty  and 

108 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA   MOUNTAINS 

developing  many  previously  dormant.  One 
whole  side  of  my  nature,  the  esthetical  and 
philosophical,  my  love  for  art,  poetry,  and  liter- 
ature, had  its  birth  at  this  time.  It  was  liter- 
ally a  revolution. 

As  has  been  said,  I  came  down  to  Liberty 
in  November.  My  cousin  Lewis  Jones  having 
just  graduated  as  bachelor  of  arts  at  Athens, 
had  come  down  to  his  father's  place ;  and  he  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  making  a  tour  on  horseback 
through  Florida  to  study  the  geology  and 
natural  history  of  that  State,  then  little  known. 
I  heartily  entered  into  his  plans  and  agreed  to 
accompany  him.  We  prepared  our  outfit  and 
made  all  arrangements  to  start  early  in  Janu- 
ary. But  late  in  December  my  sister  Sarah 
came  down  to  Cedar  Hill,  her  plantation,  and 
in  the  hospitable  way  characteristic  of  the 
South,  and  particularly  of  the  Low  Countries, 
brought  with  her  her  niece,  Miss  Bessie  Nisbet, 
her  nephew  Joe,  Miss  Bessie's  brother,  and  her 
cousin,  Miss  Mary  Nisbet,  to  spend  the  winter. 
About  the  first  of  January  I  met  Miss  Bessie  at 
Midway  church,  and  her  bright,  charming  face 
and  petite  form,  now  fully  developed,  captivated 
me  at  once.  It  was  literally  love  at  first  sight, 
so  far  as  that  is  possible.    My  imagination  was 

109 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

taken  captive  and  frequent  association  that  win- 
ter did  the  rest.  I  need  not  say  that  the  Florida 
trip  was  forgotten  at  once,  for  Lewis  also  found 
Cedar  Hill  too  attractive  to  leave.     It  was  a 

great  opportunity  lost,  but 

That  winter  was  the  most  delightful  I  ever 
spent.  Joe  Nisbet,  Lewis,  and  I  had  most  glori- 
ous days  of  duck-shooting,  turkey-hunting,  and 
deer-hunting,  and  still  more  glorious  evenings 
with  the  ladies.  "We  got  up  many  horseback 
rides  for  the  girls,  and  an  incident  connected 
with  one  I  can  never  forget.  I  had  borrowed 
for  Miss  Bessie,  Lewis  Jones's  pony  "  Tiger," 
a  perfectly  gentle  but  high-spirited  and  sen- 
sitive little  animal.  Ah!  what  a  fairylike 
picture  it  was,  the  beautiful  maiden  on  the 
beautiful  pony!  But  she  was  timid,  inexperi- 
enced, and  unsteady  in  the  saddle;  I  watched 
them  uneasily.  We  were  riding  alone  to  meet 
a  lady  and  gentleman  at  a  trysting-place  a 
couple  of  miles  away.  The  pony  was  ambi- 
tious ;  the  rider  did  not  know  how  to  check  him ; 
he  began  to  go  faster  and  faster.  I  had  to  do 
the  same  to  keep  alongside;  this  again  stimu- 
lated Tiger  to  get  ahead;  soon  we  were  in  full 
gallop,  and  Bessie,  becoming  alarmed,  dropped 
the  bridle  and  took  hold  of  the  pommel.    I  saw 

110 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

at  once  that  we  should  have  a  runaway  and  a 
catastrophe  unless  I  could  quiet  Tiger.  I  could 
have  taken  hold  of  the  bit  and  checked  him  by 
force,  but  I  knew  that  with  his  spirit  this  would 
have  required  a  hard  struggle.  I  could  perhaps 
have  lifted  her  from  her  saddle  to  my  own,  but 
I  was  not  sufficiently  sure  of  either  my  strength 
or  my  horsemanship.  I  knew  that  the  pony  was 
perfectly  gentle,  for  I  had  ridden  him  a  hun- 
dred times.  I  therefore  dropped  back  a  little, 
only  a  little,  and  called  to  him,  "  Whoa,  Tiger, 
whoa !  "  and  to  the  rider,  "  Pull  the  rein  gently." 
She  did  so,  Tiger  came  down  to  a  trot,  then  in  a 
few  minutes  to  a  walk,  and  all  danger  was  over. 
But  the  gallop  had  loosened,  and  then  shaken 
down,  Bessie's  long,  abundant  hair,  and  it  fell 
as  a  veil  covering  her  whole  person  and  almost 
enveloping  the  little  pony.  The  whole  scene 
lives  as  a  picture  in  my  memory :  the  beautiful, 
bright,  balmy  morning,  the  woods  of  pine  and 
myrtle,  overgrown  with  jessamine  vines,  the 
fragrance  of  whose  golden  blossoms  filled  the 
air;  the  fairylike  beauty  of  the  girl,  with  her 
veil  of  disheveled  hair.  Such  scenes,  alas!  do 
not  often  occur  in  one's  life,  but  they  remain  as 
eternal  possessions  in  the  memory. 

For   a  week  it  was   a   constant   round   of 
111 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

gaiety,  while  the  whole  party  of  young  people 
visited  at  Woodmanston,  the  old  plantation; 
there  were  horseback  rides  and  boat  rides  dur- 
ing the  day  and  piano  playing,  singing,  fluting, 
and  impromptu  cotillons  and  Virginia  reels  in 
the  evenings.  Bessie  was  an  excellent  pianist, 
and  I  watched  with  great  delight  her  brilliant 
touch,  her  hands  apparently  far  too  small  to 
reach  an  octave,  yet  full  of  vigor  and  nerve. 

The  party  broke  up  in  April,  Bessie  and 
Joe  going  to  visit  an  aunt  in  Savannah,  and  I 
remaining  in  Liberty.  But  later  in  the  same 
month  I  visited  my  brothers  in  Savannah  and 
again  saw  her.  Did  I  really  love  her?  I  was 
not  yet  sure  of  the  permanency  of  my  feelings, 
and  she  was  evidently  unconscious  of  them. 
Certainly  I  was  not  at  that  time  prepared  to  go 
any  further.  She  went  back  to  Midway,  and  I 
did  not  see  her  again  for  four  months. 

A  deep  and  permanent  change  had  certainly 
taken  place  in  my  whole  nature.  Her  image  re- 
mained with  me  continually  as  a  pure  and  holy 
presence.  I  felt,  as  it  were,  put  on  honor  in  all 
my  conduct  and  even  in  my  thoughts.  Any 
wrong  act  or  thought  I  felt  as  a  dishonor  to  her 
and  a  disgrace  to  me.  From  my  own  experi- 
ence I  know  that  there  is  nothing  so  elevating 

112 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

and  purifying  to  a  young  man  as  a  pure  love  for 
a  pure  maiden. 

Meanwhile  I  had  not  the  slightest  reason  to 
believe  that  she  even  thought  of  me  except  as 
an  agreeable  companion  of  a  day.  Whether  I 
should  ever  meet  her  again,  I  did  not  know.  I 
had  not  deliberately  determined  to  court  her, 
but  if  it  was  to  be,  it  should  be  in  her  father's 
house.  I  was  sure  that  no  one  in  the  least  sus- 
pected my  feelings,  and  therefore  no  one  but 
myself  had  as  yet  been  hurt.  But  in  any  case, 
whether  she  ever  became  my  wife  or  not,  my 
love  was  an  eternal  possession  that  could  never 
be  taken  away. 

In  June,  as  usual,  I  went  to  Macon.  While 
I  was  there,  Joe  Nisbet  wrote  inviting  "  John 
T."  and  me  to  visit  him.  I  joyfully  accepted. 
Several  young  ladies  had  been  invited  by  Bessie, 
and  we  again  had  a  merry  party.  Here  my  feel- 
ings were  confirmed  and  deepened,  but  still  no 
one  suspected,  not  even  Bessie  herself. 

After  a  very  happy  fortnight  we  made  up  a 
party  for  the  falls  and  mountains.  There  were 
seven  of  us:  my  sister  Sarah,  who  was  to  ma- 
tronize  the  party;  Miss  Bessie;  three  of  her 
girl  friends;  the  Rev.  Thomas  Conrad  Porter, 
then  a  Presbyterian  pastor  in  Macon,  but  later 
0  113 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

the  distinguished  professor  of  botany  in  La- 
fayette College,  Easton,  Pa.;  and  L*  We  went 
by  rail  to  Griffin,  thence  by  stage  to  Decatur, 
and  from  there  to  Stone  Mountain. 

Stone  Mountain  is  a  dome  of  pure,  bare 
granite,  standing  alone  in  a  gently  undulating 
region,  evidently  a  harder  core  left  as  a  remnant 
of  universal  erosion.  It  stands  about  a  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  general  level,  a  bare,  almost 
sheer  precipice  on  the  northern  side,  but  gently 
sloping  on  the  southern.  On  the  top  has  been 
built  an  observation  tower  a  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  high. 

Of  course  we  had  to  see  a  sunrise  from  the 
mountain.  We  started  on  foot  before  day- 
break, and  were  on  the  top  of  the  tower  before 
sunrise.  But  alas  for  our  view!  The  whole 
landscape  was  enveloped  in  fog.  We  were 
above  it  and  looked  down  upon  it  as  on  a  limit- 
less ocean.  Presently  the  fog,  already  antici- 
pating defeat  from  the  coming  sun,  began  to 
break  away,  and  the  landscape  to  appear  in 
spots  like  islands  in  the  ocean.  The  islands  con- 
tinued to  enlarge  and  unite  until  the  whole  coun- 
try lay  spread  out  at  our  feet,  all  the  fresher 
and  greener  for  its  fog-bath.  Meanwhile  the 
last  remnant  of  fog  drifted  right  over  us,  car- 

114 


TEIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA   MOUNTAINS 

ried  slowly  westward  by  a  very  gentle  wind. 
The  sun  was  just  rising  and  cast  the  shadow  of 
the  mountain,  the  tower,  the  railed  area  at  the 
top,  and  the  seven  figures  on  the  slowly,  slowly 
retreating,  snow-white  fog-bank.  Like  a  halo 
of  glory  about  our  heads,  see !  a  splendid  double 
rainbow !  It  was  the  most  glorious  sight  I  ever 
witnessed.  This  was  the  first  day  of  our  tour ; 
we  all  hailed  it  with  delight  as  an  omen  of  happi- 
ness, I  especially,  for  reasons  easily  imagined. 

After  having  spent  the  greater  part  of  the 
day  on  the  mountain  enjoying  the  splendid  view, 
we  returned  to  the  hotel.  The  next  day  we 
went  to  Gainesville,  a  neat,  healthy  little  vil- 
lage, with  delightful,  exhilarating  air  and  a 
beautiful,  cold,  carbonated  spring  about  a  mile 
away,  to  which  we  walked  every  afternoon. 
Here  we  stayed  several  days,  for  the  hotel  was 
celebrated  for  its  excellent  cooking,  delightful 
walks  abounded,  the  air  was  delicious,  and  we 
were  all  happy.  With  a  coach  and  four  that  I 
procured  from  Athens  we  then  continued  on  our 
way  to  the  Nacooche  Valley  and  Yonah  Moun- 
tain. 

Nacooche  is  a  beautiful,  fertile  valley  with 
several  mountains  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  the 
most    conspicuous    being    the    striking    Yonah 

115 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Mountain.  Near  the  hotel,  on  the  valley  level, 
is  a  mound  about  seventy-five  feet  high,  with  a 
flat  polygonal  top  of  about  an  acre.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly artificial,  but  is  too  large  to  be  en- 
tirely so.  I  supposed  then,  and  still  suppose, 
that  it  is  a  natural  hill,  artificially  increased  in 
height  and  modified  in  form;  but  am  ignorant 
as  to  its  purpose.  Some  say  that  it  was  con- 
structed by  the  Indian  mound-builders;  others 
that  it  is  a  fortification  built  by  De  Soto.  In 
the  vicinity  I  observed  some  evidences  of  placer- 
mining  for  gold;  but  /  was  more  interested  in 
love  than  gold. 

After  devoting  a  day  to  the  ascent  of  Yonah 
Mountain,  which  rises  eighteen  hundred  feet 
above  the  valley  and  some  twenty-three  hundred 
above  the  sea-level,  and  enjoying  the  unrivaled 
view  of  the  valley  and  the  mountains  from  its 
summit,  we  went  on  to  Clarkesville,  and  thence, 
after  a  day  or  two,  to  Tallulah. 

Here  we  enjoyed  for  a  week  or  ten  days  the 
most  delightful  part  of  our  trip.  As  this  was 
my  fifth  visit,  I  acted  as  guide,  and  day  after 
day  we  rambled  in  the  great  gorge  till  we  had 
explored  every  nook  and  corner  of  it.  We 
visited  all  five  of  the  falls,  but  our  favorite 
haunts  were  the  Tempesta  and  the  Oceana. 

116 


Hurricane  Pall,  Tallulah  Falls,  Georgia. 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

It  so  happened  that  we  spent  Sunday  here. 
Sunday  at  Tallulah!  To  us  it  seemed  that  the 
day  was  more  than  usually  sacred.  We  had  a 
clergyman  with  us — why  not  have  religious  serv- 
ices in  the  chasm  at  the  falls!  At  the  top  of 
the  Oceana  Falls  was  just  the  place,  the  granite 
here  breaking  into  regular  joints  and  forming 
steps  in  an  amphitheater  on  which  we  sat  with- 
in sound  of  the  roar  of  the  falls  and  surrounded 
by  grand  cliffs.  Mr.  Porter  was  a  man  of  rare 
culture  and  taste;  the  invocation,  the  hymns, 
the  prayer,  and  the  sermon  were  all  in  wonder- 
ful keeping  with  the  scene,  and  the  effect  was 
really  powerful.  There  was  some  tittering 
among  the  girls  at  first,  but  it  was  soon  suc- 
ceeded by  a  solemn  silence.  The  ladies  sang 
and  I  accompanied  them  on  the  flute,  while  the 
roaring  falls  made  a  deep  bass  that  harmonized 
with  the  thin  clearness  of  the  feminine  voices 
and  the  soft  breathings  of  the  flute.  I  remem- 
ber well  the  text  of  the  sermon ;  it  was  the  scene 
of  Elijah  at  Mount  Horeb,  when  the  Lord  was 
not  in  the  storm,  nor  in  the  earthquake,  nor  yet 
in  the  fire,  but  in  the  still  small  voice  heard  in 
the  heart  of  man. 

Another  time  we  all  went  down  by  moon- 
light and  sat  on  the  "  Devil's  Pulpit,"  so  called, 

117 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

but  really  God's  pulpit  for  those  who  have  ears 
to  hear;  and  the  ladies  sang  while  I  played  on 
the  flute.  The  holy  stillness  sank  deep  into  our 
hearts.  All  enjoyed  it,  but  I  most  of  all,  I 
think.  Mr.  Porter  stood  on  the  Pulpit  and  re- 
cited Coleridge's  Hymn  to  Mont  Blanc  with 
really  thrilling  effect.  His  feeling  for  litera- 
ture, and  especially  for  poetry,  was  certainly  a 
real  culture  to  me. 

Such  experiences  of  course  fed  the  flames  of 
love  in  me,  but  I  was  distressingly  uncertain 
whether  Bessie's  heart  was  touched.  Whether 
she  had  begun  to  suspect  my  love  I  could  not 
certainly  tell,  but  I  thought  so,  for  she  was  shy 
in  my  presence  and  even  avoided  me.  Yet  she 
did  not  seem  displeased.  I  determined  to  set- 
tle matters  as  soon  as  I  saw  her  under  her  own 
roof. 

We  left  Beal's  with  great  reluctance.  We 
had  made  friends  with  everybody  and  every- 
thing there;  with  the  pompous,  good-natured 
Beal,  with  his  gentle,  patient  wife,  with  Eollo, 
Tallulah,  and  Magnolia,  even  with  Beal's  dogs 
and  Mrs.  Beal's  cats.  We  went  directly  to  the 
Toccoa  Falls,  but  remained  there  only  a  few 
hours.  It  is  a  beautiful  fall  of  a  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  of  a  considerable  stream,  but  lacks 

118 


TRIPS   TO   THE   GEORGIA  MOUNTAINS 

the  grand  scenery  characteristic  of  Tallulah. 
Still  our  luncheon  place,  a  deep  dell  at  the 
foot  of  the  fall,  thickly  overgrown  with  moss 
and  ferns,  wet  with  eternal  spray,  was  delight- 
ful and  refreshing. 

From  Clarkesville,  which  we  reached  in  the 
afternoon,  we  went  on  next  day  to  Athens, 
where  we  remained  several  days  visiting  my 
brother  John,  who  had  become  professor  of 
physics  and  chemistry  in  Franklin  College. 
Thence  we  went  onward  by  rail  and  stage  to 
Midway,  arriving  there  about  the  middle  of 
September. 

The  fateful  day  came  at  last.  It  was  Sun- 
day, the  twentieth  of  September.  A  cousin 
whom  I  asked  to  help  me  was  astounded,  hav- 
ing never  dreamt  of  such  a  thing,  but  arranged 
that  I  could  walk  to  church  with  Bessie  that  eve- 
ning and  gave  her  a  hint  of  what  was  coming 
after  the  service.  I  was  by  no  means  certain 
of  the  result,  and  need  not  say  how  anxious  I 
was,  or  how  I  blundered,  saying  the  things  I 
ought  not  to  have  said  and  leaving  unsaid  the 
things  I  ought  to  have  said.  I  shall  not  attempt 
any  account  of  what  took  place.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  her  acceptance  was  conditioned  on  her 
father's  will.     This  was  all  I  could  expect;  it 

119 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

assured  me  of  her  consent — what  could  I  desire 
more? 

We  became  engaged  and  agreed  to  marry  in 
January,  and  after  a  month  in  Midway  I  went 
down  to  the  old  homestead  to  remain  until  that 
time.  Heretofore  in  all  my  visits  to  Liberty  I 
had  devoted  much  time  and  energy  to  hunting, 
but  this  time  I  could  think  of  nothing  but  the 
coming  January.  Early  in  the  month  I  went 
to  Macon  and  there  impatiently  awaited  the  ap- 
pointed time,  writing  to  Bessie  every  day.  We 
were  married  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
January  14,  1846,  by  the  Rev.  John  Baker.  As 
is  usual  on  such  occasions,  the  groom  was  un- 
easy, awkward,  nervous,  with  a  painful  sense 
of  being  unnecessary,  the  bride,  calm,  quiet,  and 
dignified,  as  if  conscious  of  her  importance. 
But  enough — all  I  need  to  say  is  that  my  hopes 
of  happiness  have  been  much  more  than  real- 
ized. Our  love  has  grown  stronger  and  more 
tender  to  the  present  time,  after  a  married  life 
of  fifty-four  years. 

I  have  referred  to  love  and  marriage  as  the 
second  great  crisis  in  my  life.  These  two;  but 
there  may  be  love  without  marriage,  and,  alas, 
marriage  without  love.  Love  and  marriage  are 
necessary  supplements  of  each  other,  and  must 

120 


MARRIAGE 

be  combined  to  produce  the  highest  spiritual 
growth.  Love,  romantic  love,  inflames  the  im- 
agination and  esthetic  sense,  and  kindles  the 
sense  of  beauty  in  the  human  person,  in  art,  and 
in  literature.  But  this  is  not  enough ;  marriage 
is  necessary  to  bring  about  another  kind  of  love : 
that  of  the  heart  and  affections,  unselfish,  self- 
effacing,  wedded  love.  The  first  grows  up 
quickly,  but  as  quickly  sheds  its  flower,  unless 
supplemented  by  wedded  love,  which  continues 
and  grows  to  the  end  of  life,  not  destroying 
but  only  chastening  the  extravagances  of  the 
former.  The  one  may  be  likened  to  the  Greek 
spirit,  with  its  intense  love  of  beauty  and  in- 
tense enjoyment  of  life,  physical  and  temporal, 
but  adding  the  apotheosis  of  woman,  which  it  de- 
rives from  the  Teuton;  the  other,  to  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  with  the  addition 
also  of  the  apotheosis  of  woman  in  the  form  of 
virgin-worship.  The  one  ideal  must  not  dis- 
place the  other  either  in  the  individual  or  in 
society;  the  two,  the  Greek  and  the  Christian, 
must  be  united.  They  are  united  in  every  true 
marriage;  they  are  becoming  so  in  every  en- 
lightened modern  society. 

A  few  days  after  our  wedding  we  went  to 
Macon  and  thence  to  the  old  homestead  in  Lib- 

121 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

erty,  where  we  stayed  during  the  winter.  I 
have  since  thought  that  I  should  then,  while  still 
"  foot-loose,"  have  taken  my  wife  to  Europe. 
I  did  indeed  offer  to  do  so,  but  we  were  too 
happy  in  each  other  to  care  for  much  else  and 
at  that  time  did  not  appreciate  the  importance 
of  foreign  travel.  The  first  year  was  spent, 
therefore,  in  simple  enjoyment  of  life  and  mu- 
tual love.  In  the  latter  part  of  spring  we 
visited  Midway  and  Macon,  and  then  went  for 
the  summer  to  Indian  Springs,  Rowland 
Springs,  and  Major  Freeman's,  a  large  farm- 
house in  the  fertile  limestone  region  of  north- 
west Georgia.  Here  there  was  a  very  choice 
company,  and  we  spent  several  months  in  the 
delightful  place,  riding,  hunting,  swimming,  etc. 

In  October  I  took  my  wife  back  to  her  home 
and  her  mother's  care,  and  on  the  tenth  of  De- 
cember, 1847,  our  first  child,  a  daughter,  was 
born.  Oh,  the  joy  and  yet  the  strangeness  of 
fatherhood!  the  softness,  the  tenderness,  the 
helpless  beauty  of  new  motherhood !  These  are 
too  sacred  to  touch  on  further. 

Three  weeks  later  I  went  again  to  Liberty  to 
become  the  administrator  of  my  brother  Wil- 
liam's estate  for  his  widow  and  minor  children, 
a  position  that  I  continued  to  hold  until  the 

122 


MARRIAGE 

children  were  grown  and  married.  On  the  way 
I  stayed  one  night  in  Savannah  with  Lewis,  who 
was  just  recovering  from  the  measles.  I  had 
never  had  the  disease,  hut  as  I  had  frequently 
visited  measled  patients  in  New  York  without 
ill  effect,  I  considered  myself  immune,  and  went 
in  and  conversed  with  Lewis  half  an  hour.  But 
the  measles  got  me  this  time!  In  Macon  on 
the  day  before  the  one  that  I  had  fixed  for  my 
return  to  Midway  I  was  taken  with  a  high  fever, 
and  for  ten  days  afterward  could  not  leave  my 
bed.  It  was  an  awful  disappointment  to  be 
separated  from  my  wife  and  child,  whom  I 
longed  intensely  to  see,  and  in  my  impatience 
I  got  up  much  too  early.  The  attack  was  a  se- 
vere one  and  left  me  in  bad  condition,  with  slow 
fevers  and  a  ravenous  appetite,  but  without  the 
power  of  assimilating  my  food.  My  hair  fell 
off,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  my  baldness. 
It  was  several  years  before  I  regained  my  for- 
mer vigor,  if  indeed  I  ever  did. 

Since  my  graduation  in  1841,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  two  years  spent  in  New  York  in 
medical  study,  I  had  simply  drifted  about  and 
enjoyed  life,  as  I  thought,  in  a  noble  way.  My 
ideal  was  culture,  physical,  mental,  and  moral, 
simply  for  the  sake  of  culture.     This  is  a  high 

123 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ideal,  but  not  the  highest.  If  one  can  afford  it, 
as  I  could,  and  the  life  is  not  continued  too  long, 
it  is  well.  It  has  a  wonderfully  rounding  and 
broadening  effect,  and  I  do  not  regret  the  six 
years  so  spent.  In  connection  with  this  matter 
I  call  to  mind  the  contrast  between  the  two 
friends  Meister  and  Werner,  in  Goethe's  Wil- 
helm  Meister's  Apprenticeship.  The  roving 
good-for-naught  and  the  industrious  merchant 
meet  after  a  separation  of  two  years ;  and  in  the 
description  of  the  broad  brow,  clear  eye,  and 
free  step  of  the  one  as  contrasted  with  the  nar- 
row, careworn  face  and  stooping  shoulders  of 
the  other,  there  is  a  real  touch  of  nature. 

Such  a  life,  then,  is  all  well  enough  for  a  few 
years,  but  I  had  had  as  much  of  it  as  was  good 
for  me.  When  a  man  has  a  wife  and  child  his 
view  of  life  changes ;  he  must  become  a  worker 
in  the  social  hive.  I  could  not  live  on  my  plan- 
tation, as  my  father  did  and  as  I  had  at  one  time 
intended  to  do,  for  this  would  have  been  at  the 
sacrifice  of  the  pleasures  of  life  for  my  wife,  of 
ambition  for  myself,  and  of  health  for  our  chil- 
dren.   I  had  to  practise  my  profession. 

I  decided  to  settle  in  Macon,  rented  a  house 
and  an  office,  and  began  the  practise  of  medi- 
cine.   I  lived  there  two  years  and  a  half,  until 

124 


MEDICAL    PRACTISE 

July,  1850.  In  1849  I  built  a  house  and  for  the 
first  time  owned  my  own  home.  For  a  year, 
while  I  was  clearing  off  the  debt  incurred  by 
building,  we  lived  on  very  little,  some  six  or 
seven  hundred  dollars — excellent  discipline  for 
us  who  had  always  had  what  we  wanted. 

In  1849  the  Macon  Medical  Society  was 
founded,  and  before  it  I  read  the  first  paper  I 
ever  wrote,  one  entitled  The  Science  of  Medi- 
cine. It  was  published  in  the  Southern  Medi- 
cal and  Surgical  Journal  for  August,  1849.  In 
this  same  year  also  I  assisted  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Georgia  State  Medical  Society, 
whose  first  meeting  was  held  in  Macon.  In 
1899  the  golden  anniversary  of  this  society 
took  place  and  I  was  made  an  honorary  mem- 
ber. 

In  practise  I  met  with  moderate  success  but 
the  teaching  of  two  or  three  medical  students 
interested  me  far  more  than  practise.  The  fact 
is  that  my  tastes  were  far  more  scientific  than 
practical,  and  perhaps  more  than  most  persons 
would  have  I  felt  my  want  of  adequate  prepara- 
tion for  undertaking  the  awful  responsibilities 
of  a  medical  practitioner.  Evidently  I  had  not 
found  my  right  place ;  I  was  not  working  in  the 
line  of  my  best  powers,  and  suffered  greatly 

125 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

from  a  sense  of  having  wasted  my  life.  It  was 
the  only  time  that  I  was  really  unhappy ;  and  I 
know  of  no  unhappiness  equal  to  this  sense  of  a 
wasted  life.  No  one  knew  my  feeling,  least  of 
all  my  wife;  I  acknowledged  it  to  myself  only 
during  long  solitary  walks  in  the  woods. 

Finally,  in  the  spring  of  1850,  my  cousin 
Lewis  Jones,  who  had  come  to  Macon  to  attend 
the  meeting  of  the  State  Medical  Society  and 
stayed  at  my  house,  told  me  his  purpose  of  be- 
coming a  pupil  of  Agassiz,  who  had  been  made 
professor  of  geology  and  zoology  in  Harvard. 
I  heartily  joined  in  his  plan,  our  object  being 
special  preparation  for  the  teaching  of  these 
subjects. 

About  this  time  Dr.  Nottingham,  an  old  and 
distinguished  physician  who  had  just  settled  in 
Macon,  made  me  an  offer  of  partnership.  It 
was  undoubtedly  a  tempting  one;  I  had  large 
family  connections  and  he  had  large  experi- 
ence; we  should  certainly  have  been  success- 
ful. It  was  now  or  never,  if  I  was  to  make 
medicine  my  life-work.  I  decided  not  to  accept. 
I  had  found  my  vocation.  I  broke  up,  sold  out, 
left  Macon,  and  went  to  Cambridge  in  August, 
1850. 


126 


CHAPTER  V. 

STUDY   WITH    AGASSIZ 

I  was  very  sorry  to  leave  Macon.  Mainly 
through  my  wife,  I  had  a  large  circle  of  friends 
who  were  the  most  influential  people  in  the  city. 
My  most  intimate  friend  was  my  wife's  uncle, 
Eugenius  A.  Nisbet,  Eepresentative  in  Congress 
and  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia. 
With  him  I  often  took  long  walks,  sometimes 
spending  whole  days  pretending  to  fish  but 
really  reading  Izaak  Walton  and  discussing  all 
sorts  of  literary  and  philosophic  topics.  I  also 
took  long  walks  with  Dr.  James  Green,  study- 
ing the  plants  in  the  region  about  the  city.  I 
continued,  moreover,  to  increase  my  collection  of 
birds.  It  was  at  this  time  that  I  fell  in  with  the 
works  of  Richard  Owen,  the  great  comparative 
anatomist,  and  it  was  perhaps  his  The  Arche- 
type and  Homologies  of  the  Vertebrate  System 
which  interested  me  intensely,  that  more  than 
anything  else  decided  me  to  become  a  pupil  of 
Agassiz. 

127 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

On  the  way  to  Cambridge  I  attended  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  in  New  Haven,  and 
became  a  member.  I  then  became  acquainted 
with  many  scientific  men  who  became  my  life- 
long friends,  among  them  Agassiz,  Guyot,  Dana, 
Hall,  Peirce,  Bache,  Henry,  and  William  B.  and 
Henry  D.  Rogers,  every  one  of  whom  is  now 
dead. 

I  arrived  in  Cambridge  in  August.  The 
college  did  not  open  until  October,  but  that  did 
not  matter  to  me,  as  I  went  to  Harvard  simply 
to  study  with  Agassiz.  He  was  in  Cambridge, 
and  Dr.  Jones  and  I  went  right  to  work.  The 
first  task  Agassiz  set  us  was  very  characteristic 
of  the  man.  He  thought  a  while,  then  pulled  out 
a  drawer  containing  from  five  hundred  to  a 
thousand  separated  valves  of  Unios,  of  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  different  species,  all  mixed 
together,  and  said,  "  Pair  these  valves  and 
classify  into  species ;  names  no  matter ;  separate 
the  species."  Pie  left  us  alone,  very  severely 
alone.  We  worked  on  those  shells  for  one 
whole  week,  the  professor  looking  at  our  work 
from  time  to  time  but  making  no  remark. 
Finally  we  told  him  that  we  had  done  the  best 
we  could ;  he  examined  the  results  carefully  and 

128 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

was  much  pleased.  It  so  happened  that  just 
then  there  entered  the  room  a  friend  of  his 
from  Europe,  Ampere,  the  son  of  the  great  elec- 
trician. He  introduced  us  and  remarked  that 
these  pupils  of  his  had  just  amended  correctly 
the  classification  of  Lea,  the  great  authority  on 
Unios. 

I  give  this  only  as  an  example  of  his  method 
of  teaching.  He  consistently  carried  it  out, 
with  some  modifications.  He  set  us  tasks,  and 
we  worked  unaided  save  for  a  hint  here  and 
there.  As  we  became  better  acquainted,  how- 
ever, finding  us  already  well  advanced  in 
thoughtfulness,  he  often  gave  us  long  talks,  ex- 
pounding his  biological  philosophy  and  inviting 
discussions,  which  we  were  not  slow  to  accept. 
He  thus  scattered  unpublished  thoughts  and 
suggestions  broadcast  on  all  sides  with  a  free 
hand. 

There  are  two  types  of  great  men:  those  of 
one  class  are  great  by  the  quantity  and  impor- 
tance of  their  work,  but  when  one  comes  in  con- 
tact with  them  and  measures  them  intellectually, 
they  seem  of  ordinary  stature — their  work  is 
greater  than  themselves,  though  surely  patience 
and  persistence  are  admirable  qualities  that 
should  be  added  to  their  work  in  estimating 
10  129 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

their  greatness;  those  of  the  other  class,  the 
nearer  they  are  approached  the  greater  they 
grow — they  are  themselves  greater  than  all  their 
visible  results.  These  are  the  great  teachers; 
their  spirit  and  enthusiasm  are  contagious; 
their  personality  is  magnetic.  They  not  only 
think  intensely,  but  they  are  the  cause  of 
thought  in  others.  Agassiz  was  preeminently 
of  this  latter  class.  To  explain  how  much  I 
owe  to  him,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  for 
fifteen  months  I  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
most  intimate  personal  way,  from  eight  to  ten 
hours  a  day,  and  every  day,  usually  including 
Sundays.  I  was  his  companion  in  all  of  his  ex- 
cursions ;  geological,  with  Hall  in  the  fossilifer- 
ous  fields  of  New  York,  and  zoological  along  the 
shores  of  Massachusetts  and  on  the  reefs  of 
Florida. 

This  last  excursion  was  so  important  as  to 
justify  dwelling  upon  it.  The  Straits  of 
Florida  are  probably  the  most  dangerous  to 
navigation  in  the  world,  owing  mainly  to  the 
coral  reefs  of  that  region.  Professor  Bache, 
of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  asked  Agas- 
siz to  investigate  the  laws  of  growth  of  these 
reefs.  His  expenses  and  those  of  his  assist- 
ants were  to  be  paid,  and  he  offered  to  take  us 

130 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

and  his  son  Alexander,  then  sixteen,  as  his  as- 
sistants. Here  was  a  grand  opportunity !  But 
my  second  daughter,  Sallie,  "  the  little  Yankee," 
as  we  playfully  call  her,  had  been  born  in  No- 
vember in  the  house  in  which  we  were  living  on 
the  Harvard  campus,  and  I  questioned  whether  I 
could  leave  my  wife  and  children.  Oh,  the  pain, 
the  distress,  the  pity  of  it !  My  wife  urged  me 
not  to  let  slip  such  an  opportunity,  however,  and 
I  accepted.  We  started  on  her  birthday,  the 
first  of  January. 

While  in  Charleston  awaiting  the  departure 
of  the  steamer  for  Key  West,  I  had  a  long  talk 
with  a  Cambridge  friend  on  the  subject  of  slav- 
ery. He  was  greatly  impressed  by  what  I  said 
but  not  convinced.  I  left  him  with  the  remark, 
"  You  stay  in  the  South  this  winter ;  I  will  see 
you  again  next  spring  in  Cambridge;  tell  me 
then  what  you  think."  I  did  see  him  again  in 
Cambridge  in  June,  and  he  then  retracted  all 
his  previous  objections  and  agreed  with  me  en- 
tirely. I  might  give  the  details  of  my  argu- 
ments, but  they  are  substantially  embodied  and 
brought  up  to  date  in  my  article  on  The  Eace 
Problem  in  the  South,  in  the  volume  Man  and 
the  State,  published  in  1892  by  the  Ethical  As- 
sociation of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

131 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

I  can  not  dwell — as  I  would  like  to — on  the 
voyage  to  Key  West.  I  enjoyed  it  all  intensely ; 
the  weather  so  soft  and  balmy ;  the  sea  so  calm 
and  smooth,  the  water  of  the  Gulf  Stream  rival- 
ing the  sky  in  blueness;  the  sharks  in  multi- 
tudes following  the  boat  behind  and  piloting  it 
in  front,  plainly  seen  in  the  clear  water,  now 
darting  ahead  and  now  falling  back  to  their 
previous  positions ;  the  flying-fish,  rising  in 
swarms,  their  vibrating  fins  glittering  in  the 
sun,  then,  after  a  flight  of  a  hundred  yards 
or  so,  falling  back  in  showers;  the  purple  and 
blue  Physalias  with  their  long  tentacles  float- 
ing so  gracefully;  the  coral-trees  and  coral- 
heads  plainly  visible  as  we  steamed  rapidly  by 
close  to  the  reef — I  never  in  my  life  was  so 
delighted. 

Five  or  six  days  after  leaving  Cambridge 
we  reached  Key  "West.  We  had  left  in  a  snow- 
storm, everything  being  locked  in  ice  and  cov- 
ered with  snow;  here  we  swam  in  the  ocean 
every  day  and  slept  without  covering  and  with 
the  windows  wide  open ;  the  change  was  delight- 
ful. I  remember  well  being  awakened  the  first 
morning  by  a  clattering  sound.  I  thought  it 
was  the  delicious  pattering  of  rain  on  the  roof. 
But  no,  the  sun  was  shining  brightly ;  it  was  the 

132 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

noise  of  the  breeze  in  the  cocoanut  leaves.     The 
impression  was  exquisitely  tropical. 

We  were  incessantly  at  work;  sometimes 
visiting  the  reefs  in  a  Government  steamer; 
sometimes  exploring  the  Everglades  in  one  di- 
rection, sometimes  the  Tortugas  in  the  other; 
but  always  observing,  noting,  and  gathering 
specimens.  The  collections  were  enormous,  for 
the  whole  population,  especially  the  sailors, 
three  or  four  hundred  in  number,  collected  for 
Agassiz.  The  keen  delight,  the  almost  childish 
glee  of  Agassiz  when  anything  new  was  brought 
to  him  pleased  these  children  of  nature  im- 
mensely. "  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the 
whole  world  kin."  Sometimes  for  several  days 
in  succession  we  would  be  out  all  day 
on  the  reefs  collecting,  generally  waist-deep  in 
the  water;  then  for  several  days  in  our  work- 
room on  the  wharf  at  Key  West  we  would  study 
our  specimens  with  microscopes,  draw,  and  pack 
away.  In  the  evenings  we  would  gather  in 
Agassiz'  room,  and  discuss  the  day's  work  and 
the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  therefrom.  I  never 
saw  any  one  work  like  Agassiz;  for  fourteen 
hours  a  day  he  would  work  under  high  pressure, 
smoking  furiously  all  the  time.  The  harder  he 
worked,  the  faster  he  consumed  cigars. 

133 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The  longest  of  our  excursions  from  Key 
West  was  on  the  Coast  Survey  steamer,  of  which 
John  Rodgers,  afterward  admiral  and  Super- 
intendent of  the  Naval  Observatory  at  Wash- 
ington, was  captain.  Very  intelligent  and  a 
keen  observer  of  nature,  he  was  of  the  greatest 
service  to  us  in  many  ways,  especially  by  sug- 
gesting points  for  investigations.  We  steamed 
close  along  the  reef,  stopping  from  time  to  time 
and  taking  a  rowboat  for  closer  observations, 
and  often  getting  out  and  wading  waist-deep  on 
the  reef,  climbing  among  the  coral-trees  and 
over  the  coral-heads.  We  especially  and  care- 
fully examined  the  structure  of  the  little  islands 
just  commencing  to  form  on  the  reef  and  not 
yet  inhabited,  particularly  of  Sand  Key,  which 
had  been  cut  into  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a 
lighthouse.  Next  we  examined  the  structure 
of  the  larger  islands  or  true  keys ;  and  then  that 
of  the  mangrove  islands,  which  we  found  to  be 
of  entirely  different  character  and  origin. 
After  examining  the  limestone  ridge  that  forms 
the  southern  coast  of  Florida,  we  went  by  boat 
up  the  Miami  River,  which  cuts  through  the 
higher  rim  and  drains  the  Everglades,  to  study 
the  structure  of  the  Everglades  and  that  of  their 
hummocks.     Thence  we  returned,  visiting  sev- 

134 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

eral  other  keys  on  the  way  back  to  Key  West. 
There  we  examined  the  collection  we  had  gath- 
ered, made  all  necessary  drawings,  and  packed 
selected  specimens  in  alcohol. 

Another  important  expedition  was  made  by 
sailing  vessel,  Captain  Frye,  to  the  Marquesas 
Islands,  and  thence  into  the  Dry  Tortugas. 
Here  was  stationed  a  company  of  marines,  and 
we  were  of  course  entertained  at  the  fort.  The 
day  after  our  arrival  Agassiz  sent  Dr.  Jones  and 
me  on  the  ship  to  examine  a  little  island  about 
ten  miles  away,  while  he  and  Alexander  re- 
mained at  the  fort.  We  soon  examined  the 
island,  but  were  becalmed  and  lay  there  an- 
chored all  the  next  day  with  not  a  breath  of 
wind.  The  water  was  about  twenty  feet  deep 
and  so  clear  that  the  waving  of  sea-fans  and 
switch  corals  (Gorgonias)  and  the  gorgeously 
colored  fish  swimming  among  their  branches 
were  almost  as  distinct  as  if  there  had  been  no 
water  at  all.  What  a  beautiful  place  for  a  dive ! 
No  sooner  said  than  done.  I  stripped,  plunged 
head  foremost  from  the  deck,  and  easily  reached 
the  bottom,  from  which  I  tore  Gorgonias  and 
sponges  that  on  rising  I  handed  to  the  sailors. 
While  I  was  thus  amusing  myself,  an  old-style 
naturalist  who  had  joined  our  party  for  this  ex- 

135 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

cursion,  much  to  the  disgust  of  Agassiz  as  I 
thought,  came  paddling  around  the  ship  in  a  lit- 
tle boat.  He  was  a  poky  old  fellow,  and  was 
slowly  paddling  and  peering  over  the  gunwale 
in  an  aimless  way.  I  gave  the  wink  to  the  sail- 
ors, who  were  looking  on,  took  hold  of  the  keel 
of  the  boat  behind,  lay  on  my  back  with  my  legs 
under  the  boat  and  my  head  hidden  by  the  stern, 
and  began  to  swim  backward.  The  boat  began 
mysteriously  to  move  the  wrong  way.  The 
"  Professor,"  as  he  called  himself,  paddled  more 
strongly,  but  the  boat  continued  to  move  back- 
ward. He  became  alarmed — some  devil-fish 
was  running  away  with  him!  He  peered  over 
the  gunwale  and  over  the  bows,  but  saw  noth- 
ing. He  now  paddled  frantically,  his  strength 
increased  by  terror;  but  still  the  boat  moved 
backward!  At  last  the  laughter  of  the  sailors, 
no  longer  restrainable,  revealed  the  situation  to 
him.  He  looked  over  the  stern,  and  I,  fearing  a 
retributive  blow  of  the  paddle  on  my  head,  Jet 
go  and  swam  away,  convulsed  with  laughter. 
After  the  first  flush  of  anger  he  took  the  joke  in 
good  part  and  joined  in  the  fun.  I  continued 
to  swim  and  dive  and  play  in  the  water  for  sev- 
eral hours,  enjoying  it  greatly. 

The  next  day  we  were  still  becalmed  and  be- 
136 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

came  uneasy,  as  Agassiz  might  want  us  at  the 
fort.  About  midday,  therefore,  Captain  Frye 
sent  us  back  in  an  open  boat,  rowed  by  two  sail- 
ors. On  the  way  I  made  an  interesting  observa- 
tion: About  half  way  to  the  fort  the  boat 
grounded  on  the  level,  densely  growing  prongs 
of  a  coral  grove  (Madrepora).  The  prongs 
were  very  thickly  crowded,  were  all  on  nearly 
the  same  level,  and  were  all  dead  for  about  three 
inches.  It  was  exactly  the  phenomenon  of  a 
clipped  hedge.  The  coral  tips  were  killed  every 
year  by  the  depression  of  the  water  level.  I 
afterward  used  this  as  a  basis  for  estimating 
the  rate  of  coral  growth,  the  mode  being  given 
in  my  Elements  of  Geology,  page  147,  and  in 
the  American  Journal  of  Science,  1875,  x,  34-36. 
While  I  was  gone  Agassiz  also  had  made  some 
observations  on  Meandrina  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Next  day  the  wind  sprung  up,  the 
schooner  returned,  and  we  sailed  for  Key 
West,  stopping  again  at  the  Marquesas  on  the 
way  back. 

The  scientific  results  of  this  visit  to  the  Keys 
of  Florida  I  do  not  give  here,  because  they  were 
published  by  Agassiz  in  the  Report  of  the  Coast 
Survey  for  1851.  Some  extensions  of  my  own 
were  read  before  the  American  Association  for 

137 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

the  Advancement  of  Science  in  1856,  and  pub- 
lished in  their  Proceedings  *  and  in  the  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Science  for  January,  1857.f 
This  was  my  first  really  scientific  paper. 

While  at  Key  West  I  became  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  wreckers  and  the  wrecking  schoon- 
ers. Partly  from  the  narrowness  of  the  straits 
between  Key  West  and  Cuba,  through  which  the 
Gulf  Stream  runs,  partly  from  the  variable  rate 
and  direction  of  that  current,  but  mainly  from 
the  presence  of  the  reefs,  there  are  probably 
more  wrecks  here  than  in  any  other  place  in  the 
world.  The  town  of  Key  West,  then  the 
largest  town  in  Florida,  having  about  twenty- 
five  hundred  inhabitants,  was  built  up  wholly  on 
the  wrecking  business.  There  seemed  to  be  no 
other  reason  for  its  existence,  the  island  being 
a  barren  coral  limestone,  with  almost  no  soil  at 
all,  so  that  nothing  eatable  grows  there  except 
cocoanuts.  All  foodstuffs  except  what  the  sea 
gives — an  abundance  of  the  finest  fish  and  green 
turtles — are  brought  from  the  mainland  of  the 
United  States  or  from  Cuba.  The  manner  of 
growth  of  the  town  was  doubtless  somewhat  as 
follows:   First  came  the  wreckers — from  three 

*  X,  pt.  2,  103-119.  f  Sec.  ser.,  xxiii,  46-60. 

138 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

to  four  hundred  of  them — to  prey  upon  the  car- 
casses of  dead  ships;  then  came  the  merchants 
and  traders  to  prey  upon  the  wreckers ;  then 
came  the  doctors  and  the  lawyers  to  prey  upon 
both  the  traders  and  the  wreckers ;  and  last 
came  the  clergy  of  all  denominations  to  pray  for 
all!  The  wrecking  vessels  are  the  finest  mod- 
els I  have  ever  seen  for  speed  and  for  close  sail- 
ing to  the  wind.  They  are  built  deep  behind 
and  barely  resting  on  the  water  in  front,  with 
raking  masts  and  an  enormous  spread  of  can- 
vas. All  this  is  necessary,  because  there  is  a 
prize  for  the  vessel  that  reaches  the  wreck  first. 
There  may  be  a  wreck  during  the  night — in  the 
early  morning,  immediately  on  getting  the  news, 
the  whole  fleet  of  wreckers,  like  a  flock  of  white- 
winged  vultures,  bears  down  upon  the  hapless 
ship.  It  is  a  beautiful  sight,  and  the  race  is 
eagerly  watched. 

About  half  of  our  time  was  spent  on  the 
steamer  observing  and  collecting,  and  half  on 
shore  examining,  drawing,  and  packing  away. 
Our  evenings  on  the  steamer  around  the  dining- 
table  after  dinner  were  very  enjoyable,  as  be- 
sides our  party  and  the  ship's  officers  there  were 
on  board  several  scientific  men  connected  with 
the  Coast  Survey,  of  whom  I  may  especially 

139 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

mention  J.  E.  Hilgard  and  Count  Pourtales. 
Sometimes  the  talk  was  on  scientific  subjects, 
sometimes  on  other  subjects.  I  well  remember 
that  one  evening  Agassiz,  who  had  himself  felt 
the  effects  of  the  odium  theolo gicum  for  his 
views  on  the  diversity  of  origin  of  man,  was  hot 
in  denunciation  of  the  intolerance  of  society  in 
America.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  there  is  no  free- 
dom for  a  scientific  man  in  America !  " 

"  Which,  then,  professor,"  some  one  asked, 
"  is  the  freest  country  you  know  ?  " 

"  Austria,"  he  replied  unhesitatingly,  "  for 
you  can  think  and  speak  as  you  please  there,  if 
you  let  politics  alone;  and  for  my  own  ]^art,  I 
care  nothing  for  politics." 

We  left  Key  West  after  a  stay  of  six  weeks 
and  hastened  back  to  Cambridge  as  fast  as 
steamer  and  railroad  could  carry  us,  passing  in 
three  or  four  days  from  tropic  summer  to  arc- 
tic winter.  Impatient  to  see  our  dear  ones,  we 
left  the  cars  a  little  before  reaching  Boston  and 
walked  three  or  four  miles  to  Cambridge,  reach- 
ing it  about  midnight.  Thank  God,  all  were 
well  and  anxiously  expecting  our  return. 

The  rest  of  the  year  was  a  repetition  of  the 
former  term,  save  that  the  study  was  still  more 
earnest.  In  addition  to  zoology  and  geology 
\      140 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

with  Agassiz,  I  took  a  course  in  botany  with 
Gray.  Practically  there  were  no  students  in 
Agassiz'  laboratory  but  us  two,  so  that  we  had 
nearly  all  of  Agassiz'  time.  Several  wealthy 
young  men  from  New  York  did  indeed  join  the 
class,  but  they  were  utterly  untrained  and  had 
no  idea  of  hard  work;  Agassiz  could  not  waste 
his  time  on  them  and  they  were  soon  disgusted 
and  quit.  In  May  we  went  with  Agassiz  and 
Hall  to  the  Catskill  Mountains  and  the  Mo- 
hawk Valley  to  study  the  New  York  system, 
an  excursion  that  was  my  first  field  work  in 
geology. 

About  June  Agassiz  asked  us  if  we  desired 
to  take  degrees  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School.  I  was  already  a  much  graduated  man, 
having  the  degrees  of  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  and  M.  D., 
and  having  graduated  in  matrimony  and  father- 
hood; and  had  had  no  idea  up  to  that  time  of 
becoming  a  student  in  the  Scientific  School,  or 
indeed  of  having  any  official  connection  with 
Harvard  at  all,  having  come  simply  to  study 
with  Agassiz.  But  it  was  the  first  year  of 
operation  of  the  school  and  they  wished  to  have 
something  to  show,  and  I  was  glad  to  take  a  de- 
gree. Agassiz  suggested  as  a  subject  for  my 
thesis,  The  Homologus  of  the  Radiata,  exactly 

141 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

the  one  I  myself  would  have  chosen.  I  pon- 
dered and  wrote,  and  dissected  and  wrote, 
con  amove,  illustrating  every  point  by  drawings 
of  my  own,  mostly  diagrammatic*  I  was  exam- 
ined on  the  thesis  by  Agassiz,  and  publicly  on 
zoology  and  geology  by  Agassiz  and  Wyman; 
and  late  in  June  or  early  in  July  took  my  de- 
gree and  diploma. 

Thus  it  happened  that  Lewis  Jones  and  I, 
and  two  others,  David  A.  Wells  and  John  D. 
Runkle,  formed  the  first  graduating  class  of  the 
Lawrence  Scientific  School.  The  courses  of  all 
of  us  had,  however,  been  strictly  post-graduate, 
and  I  believe  we  were  the  very  beginnings  of  a 
post-graduate  class  in  Harvard,  if  not  in  the 
United  States.  For  that  very  reason  they  did 
not  know  where  to  put  us,  as  there  was  as  yet 
no  provision  at  all  for  such  students. 

Graduation  and  a  diploma  meant  nothing  to 
me ;  I  continued  to  study  right  along  as  if  noth- 
ing had  happened,  sometimes  in  Agassiz'  labo- 
ratory, sometimes  in  excursions  along  the  coast 
with  Agassiz,  sometimes  by  myself.  For  recre- 
ation I  took  my  wife  and  family  to  the  Glades 
near  Cohasset,  and  while  there  made  a  careful 

*  The  drawings  I  still  have,  but  the  manuscript  I  lost  at  the 
time  of  Sherman's  raid  and  the  burning  of  Columbia,  S.  C, 

142 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

study  under  the  microscope  of  the  development 
of  Bryozoa.  Agassiz  was  greatly  delighted 
with  the  many  drawings  that  I  made,  as  he  saw 
some  new  and  important  things  in  them,  and 
urged  me  to  prepare  a  paper  for  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
which  was  to  meet  at  Albany  in  August,  1851. 
But  I  felt  that  I  was  not  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  literature  of  the  subject — I  did  not 
know  what  was  new  in  my  drawings  and  what 
was  not — and  the  time  before  the  meeting  was 
too  short  for  adequate  preparation. 

My  life  in  Cambridge  constituted  a  third 
crisis  in  my  life.  Think  of  the  galaxy  of  stars 
in  Harvard  at  that  time !  Agassiz,  Guyot,  Wy- 
man,  Gray,  Peirce,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Holmes, 
and  Felton — with  all  of  whom  I  was  in  almost 
daily  contact  on  the  most  intimate  terms. 
Emerson  I  saw  sometimes,  but  not  often.  Rich- 
ard Dana  I  met  thrice  every  day  at  the  table  of 
the  house  at  which  I  boarded  after  returning 
from  Florida.  The  effect  of  this  intellectual 
atmosphere  was  in  the  highest  degree  stimulat- 
ing, giving  incredible  impulse  to  thought.  Mrs. 
Le  Conte  too  associated  intimately  with  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  professors,  especially  with  those  of 
Agassiz,  Felton,  and  Peirce.    Boston,  moreover, 

143 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

was  near-by,  and  we  took  advantage  of  oppor- 
tunities of  hearing  there  the  greatest  musicians, 
as  Jenny  Lind  and  Parody ;  and  I  attended  the 
meetings  of  the  scientific  societies,  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  and  the  Society  of  Natural  His- 
tory. 

The  result  of  my  long,  intimate  association 
with  Agassiz  was,  on  my  part,  a  great  and  ever- 
increasing  love,  admiration,  and  reverence  for 
him,  both  as  a  scientist  and  as  a  man,  and  on  his 
part,  I  am  sure,  a  very  strong  and  affectionate 
regard.  A  few  extracts  from  my  address  at  the 
memorial  exercises  held  in  San  Francisco  the 
week  after  his  death  may  be  quoted  here  as 
showing  what  seem  to  me  the  true  grounds  of 
his  great  reputation  and  the  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  it  will  be  permanent,  and  my  estimate 
of  what  is  most  characteristic  and  original  in 
his  philosophy.* 

"As  we  look  back  over  the  history  of  sci- 
ence, we  see,  at  long  intervals,  certain  men  who 
seem  to  tower  far  above  their  fellows.  In  what 
consists  their  greatness?  They  are  men  who 
have  introduced  great  ideas  or  new  methods  into 
science — ideas    which    extend    the    domain    of 

*  Cf.  also  Chapter  II  of  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Re- 
ligious Thought. 

144 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

human  thought,  or  methods  which  increase  our 
power  over  nature,  facilitate  the  progress  of 
discovery,  and  thus  open  the  way  to  the  con- 
quest of  new  fields.  Such  men  were  Coperni- 
cus, and  Galileo,  and  Kepler,  and  Newton,  and 
Herschel,  in  astronomy;  such  were  Linnaeus, 
and  Buff  on,  and  Cuvier,  and  Agassiz,  in  organic 
science.  .  .  . 

"  Yes,  Agassiz  was  the  originator  of  a  great 
new  idea  in  geology,  and  the  introducer  or  per- 
fecter  of  a  new  method  in  organic  science.  .  .  . 
I  desire  to  fix  your  attention  on  only  one  great 
idea  introduced  by  him,  viz.:  the  idea  that  gla- 
ciers are  now,  and  have  been  to  a  much  greater 
extent  in  a  previous  epoch,  a  great  geological 
agent,  sculpturing  our  mountains  and  determin- 
ing the  forms  of  our  continents.  .  .  .  Before 
Agassiz,  the  study  of  glaciers  was  the  study  of 
nice  questions  in  physics,  and  of  interest  princi- 
pally to  special  physicists.  Agassiz  transferred 
the  whole  subject  into  the  broad  domain  of 
geology,  and  gave  it  a  far  deeper,  broader,  and 
more  general  interest.  The  result  was  not  only 
a  powerful  impulse  to  the  study  of  glaciers,  but 
a  flood  of  light  shed  upon  the  whole  later  geo- 
logical history  of  our  earth,  and  thus  an  enor- 
mous impulse  to  geology  also. 
11  145 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

"  But  I  said  that  Agassiz  was  a  great  re- 
former in  zoology  also — that  he  was  also,  if  not 
the  first  introducer,  at  least  the  perfecter  of  the 
great  method  of  organic  science.  This  must 
ever  remain  the  chiefest  glory  of  Agassiz.  Yes, 
far  greater  than  all  his  great  works  in  zoology 
— as  great  as  these  are,  a  monument  of  industry 
and  genius — far  greater  than  these  is  the 
method  which  underlies  them,  and  which  has  im- 
pregnated all  modern  zoology.  .  .  . 

"  As  soon  as  we  leave  the  field  of  abstract 
thought  and  rise  into  the  field  of  phenomena, 
observation  commences.  But  as  in  the  field  of 
pure  thought,  thought  can  accomplish  little  with- 
out method ;  so  in  the  field  of  phenomena,  obser- 
vation can  accomplish  little  without  the  assist- 
ance of  method.  The  phenomena  of  the  external 
world  are  so  complex,  so  affected  by  disturb- 
ing forces  and  conditions,  that  in  order  to 
be  understood  they  must  first  be  simplified. 
The  scientist,  therefore,  by  experiment,  removes 
one  condition  after  another,  until  the  true 
cause  and  necessary  condition  is  perceived. 
This  is  the  great  method  of  experiment  upon 
which  rests  the  whole  fabric  of  physics  and 
chemistry.  But  when  we  rise  still  higher  into 
the  field  of  organized  bodies,  the  phenomena 

146 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

become  infinitely  more  complex  and  infinitely 
more  difficult  to  understand  without  the  assist- 
ance of  method,  and  yet,  just  here,  the  method 
of  experiment  fails  us,  or,  at  least,  can  be  used 
only  to  a  very  limited  extent.  The  conditions 
of  life  are  so  complex,  so  nicely  adjusted,  so 
delicately  balanced,  that  when  we  attempt  to  in- 
troduce our  rude  hands  in  the  way  of  experi- 
ment, we  overthrow  the  equilibrium,  we  destroy 
the  very  conditions  of  our  experiment,  viz.,  life. 
In  this  dilemma,  what  shall  we  do?  Fortu- 
nately, nature  herself  prepares  for  us  a  most 
elaborate  series  of  experiments.  The  phe- 
nomena of  life  in  the  higher  animals  and  plants 
are  indeed  far  too  complex  to  be  understood; 
but  if  commencing  with  these  we  go  down  the 
scale,  we  find  these  phenomena  becoming  sim- 
pler and  simpler  until  they  reach  the  simplest  ex- 
pression in  the  microscopic  cell  or  microscopic 
spherule  of  protoplasm.  The  equation  of  life  is 
reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  and  then,  only, 
we  begin  to  find  the  value  of  the  unknown  quan- 
tity. This  series  I  will  call  the  natural  history 
series.  Again,  nature  prepares  for  us  another 
series  of  experiments.  Commencing  with  the 
mature  condition  of  the  higher  animals,  and  go- 
ing backward  along  the  line  of  individual  his- 

147 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tory,  through  the  stages  of  embryo,  egg,  and 
germ,  we  find  again  the  phenomena  of  life  be- 
come simpler  and  simpler,  until  we  again  reach 
the  simplest  condition  in  the  microscopic  cell. 
This  I  will  call  the  embryonic  series.  Again, 
that  there  might  be  no  excuse  for  man's  ignor- 
ance of  the  laws  of  life,  nature  prepares  still 
another  series  of  experiments.  Commencing 
with  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  present  time,  and 
going  back  along  the  track  of  geological  history, 
through  Tertiary,  Secondary,  Paleozoic,  and 
Eozoic,  to  the  very  dawn  of  life,  we  find  a  series 
of  organic  forms  becoming  simpler  and  simpler, 
until  we  again  reach  the  simplest  term  in  the 
lowest  conceivable  forms  of  life.  This  I  will 
call  the  geological  or  paleontological,  or  evolu- 
tion series. 

"  Now  it  has  been  by  extensive  comparison 
in  each  of  these  series  up  and  down,  and  by  ex- 
tensive comparison  of  the  three  series  with  each 
other,  that  our  knowledge  of  organisms  has 
gradually  become  scientific;  that  mere  accumu- 
lation of  facts  and  phenomena  has  grown  into 
science ;  that  a  mere  heap  of  useless  rubbish  has 
been  changed  into  a  beautiful  edifice.  This  is 
what  is  called  the  method  of  comparison — the 
great  method  used  in  the  science  of  life.    Yes, 

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STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

anatomy  only  becomes  scientific  through  com- 
parative anatomy.  Physiology  only  becomes 
scientific  through  comparative  physiology ;  and  I 
may  add,  psychology  will  never  become  scien- 
tific except  through  comparative  psychology. 

"  So  much  I  have  said  to  show  you  the  na- 
ture and  power  of  scientific  methods  and  espe- 
cially of  that  method — the  method  of  compari- 
son— upon  which  rests  the  whole  fabric  of  the 
science  of  organisms.  Now  what  has  Agassiz 
done  in  perfecting  this  method?  I  will  attempt 
to  explain. 

"  We  have  seen  that  this  method  consists  of 
three  subordinate  methods  which  lead  to  similar 
results,  viz. :  comparison  in  the  three  series,  the 
natural  history  series,  the  embryonic  series,  and 
the  geological  series.  Now  Cuvier  and  his  co- 
laborers  introduced  and  perfected  comparison 
in  the  natural  history  series  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  of  scientific  zoology;  but  Agassiz 
and  Von  Baer  and  their  colaborers  extended  the 
method  of  comparison  into  the  embryonic  and 
geological  series,  and  also  into  the  relation  of 
the  three  series  to  each  other;  and  thus  greatly 
perfected  the  method  and  increased  its  power. 
Others,  no  doubt  many  others,  assisted  in  the 
great  work,  but  Agassiz  was  unquestionably  the 

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JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

leader  in  the  movement.  For  forty  years 
Agassiz  worked  incessantly,  enthusiastically — 
even  to  the  breaking  down  of  his  strong  physi- 
cal constitution  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  life — on 
the  ideas  and  the.methods  conceived  in  his  youth. 
7s  not  this  a  great  life? 

"  Finally,  let  us  glance  at  some  of  the  results 
of  Agassiz'  method.  The  direct  result  is  too 
familiar  and  obvious  to  dwell  on.  We  see  it  in 
the  amazing  impulse  given  to  Biology  and  its 
consequent  great  and  ever-increasing  progress 
in  recent  time.  I  will  only  very  briefly  draw 
your  attention  to  the  indirect  results — i.  e.,  re- 
sults which  were  not  in  the  mind  of  Agassiz  nor 
aimed  at  by  him. 

"  1.  Agassiz'  work  and  Agassiz'  method  pre- 
pared the  whole  ground  and  laid  the  whole  foun- 
dation for  the  modern  doctrine  of  evolution. 
The  idea  of  the  similarity  of  the  three  series 
mentioned  above — the  natural  history,  the  em- 
bryonic, and  the  paleontological — and  therefore 
the  light  which  each  sheds  on  the  others,  a  view  so 
long  insisted  on  by  Agassiz  and  so  tardily  and 
grudgingly  accepted  by  zoologists,  forms  the 
whole  scientific  basis,  and  comparison  in  these 
three  series,  the  whole  scientific  method,  of  the 
theory    of    evolution.    Evolution    is    develop- 

150 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

ment.  Evolution  of  the  organic  kingdom  is  de- 
velopment of  the  organic  kingdom  through  geo- 
logic times.  No  one  insisted  so  long  and  so 
strongly  on  development  of  the  organic  king- 
dom through  geologic  times  as  did  Agassiz. 
All  that  is  grandest  and  most  certain  in  evolu- 
tion, viz.:  development  from  lower  to  higher, 
from  simpler  to  more  complex,  from  general  to 
special  by  a  process  of  successive  differentia- 
tion, has  always  been  insisted  on  by  Agassiz, 
and  until  recently  only  grudgingly  accepted  by 
English  zoologists  and  geologists.  In  this 
sense,  therefore,  Agassiz  is  the  great  apostle  of 
evolution.  It  was  only  the  present  theories  of 
evolution,  or  evolution  by  transmutation,  which 
he  rejected.  His  was  an  evolution  not  by 
organic  forces  within,  but  according  to  an  intelli- 
gent plan  without— am  evolution  not  by  transmu- 
tation of  species,  but  by  substitution  of  one  spe- 
cies for  another.  In  the  true  spirit  of  inductive 
caution,  perhaps  of  excessive  caution,  he  con- 
fined himself  strictly  to  the  formal  laws  of  evolu- 
tion, and  no  man  has  done  so  much  in  establish- 
ing these  as  he;  but  he  regarded  the  cause  of 
evolution  as  beyond  the  domain  of  science,  and 
all  attempts  at  a  causal  theory  as  at  least  prema- 
ture if  not  altogether  vain. 

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JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

"  2.  Agassiz'  work  and  Agassiz'  method  has 
laid  the  only  foundation  of  a  possible  scientific 
sociology.  Society  also  is  an  organized  body, 
and  therefore  subject  to  the  laws  of  organisms. 
Society,  too,  passes  by  evolution  from  lower  to 
higher,  from  simpler  to  more  complex,  from 
general  to  special,  by  a  process  of  successive 
differentiation.  Society  progresses,  develops. 
This  is  the  most  glorious  doctrine  of  modern 
times.  The  phenomena  of  society,  however,  are 
even  more  complex  than  those  of  organisms,  and 
therefore  still  more  in  want  of  a  method.  But 
we  have  already  seen  that  phenomena  which  are 
too  complex  to  be  analyzed  by  experiment  can 
only  be  brought  into  subjection  by  the  method 
of  comparison.  If,  then,  there  shall  ever  be  a 
scientific  sociology,  it  must  be  by  the  use  of  the 
same  methods  which  are  used  in  biology ;  it  must 
be  by  the  comparison  of  social  institutions,  gov- 
ernments, civilizations,  etc.,  in  all  stages  of  de- 
velopment ;  it  must  be  by  extensive  comparison 
of  social  phenomena  in  three  series,  first,  as  ex- 
hibited in  different  races  and  nations  in  various 
stages,  as  now  existing  in  different  places,  cor- 
responding to  the  natural  history  series ;  sec- 
ond, as  exhibited  in  various  stages  of  advance  of 
the  same  nation  from  barbarism  to  civilization, 

152 


STUDY  WITH  AGASSIZ 

corresponding  to  the  embryonic  series ;  third,  as 
exhibited  in  the  slow  onward  progress  of  the 
ivhole  race  through  rude  stone  age,  polished 
stone  age,  bronze  age,  and  iron  age,  correspond- 
ing to  the  paleontological  series.  It  is  by  com- 
parisons of  this  kind  that  Herbert  Spencer  is 
now  attempting  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a 
scientific  sociology.  I  repeat  it:  if  sociology 
ever  becomes  a  science  it  will  owe  much  to  the 
genius  and  the  method  of  Louis  Agassiz." 


153 


CHAPTER   VI 

PROFESSORSHIPS  IN  OGLETHORPE  UNIVERSITY,  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OE  GEORGIA,  AND  SOUTH  CAROLINA 
COLLEGE 

After  a  residence  of  about  fifteen  months 
I  left  Cambridge  and  all  my  dear  friends  there 
in  the  middle  of  October,  1851,  and  went  to  New 
York  for  a  visit  of  some  ten  days  with  my  uncle 
there.  Thence  we  went  on  to  Savannah  by 
steamer.  On  landing  I  was  greatly  shocked  to 
hear  of  the  death  of  my  brother  Lewis,  who  had 
accidentally  shot  himself  and  fallen  a  victim  to 
his  passion  for  gunning.  About  the  first  of  No- 
vember we  went  out  to  Liberty,  and  during  the 
following  month  I  received  a  call  to  take  the 
professorship  of  the  sciences  at  Oglethorpe 
University,  Midway,  Georgia.  I  was  to  teach 
all  the  sciences  except  astronomy,  which  was 
attached  to  the  mathematical  chair.  All  the 
sciences!  But  I  must  begin.  The  salary  was 
only  a  thousand  dollars  a  year,  but  as  I  had 
other  sources  of  income  I  accepted. 

154 


IN  OGLETHORPE  UNIVERSITY 

I  had  now  finished  preparation  and  begun  my 
life-work.  Henceforth,  until  the  war  of  '61,  my 
life  ran  comparatively  smoothly.  It  consisted 
almost  wholly  of  intellectual  work.  Besides 
the  routine  of  teaching,  I  was  engaged  mainly 
in  thinking,  investigating,  and  writing  and  pub- 
lishing papers.  But  during  the  first  year 
teaching  occupied  all  my  time.  I  taught  all  the 
sciences,  except  zoology,  the  very  one  for  which 
I  had  especially  prepared  myself.  I  was  not 
sorry  for  this,  however,  for  how  could  I  teach 
zoology  without  a  laboratory?  At  that  time 
there  was  not  even  a  text-book  on  the  subject. 
Botany  I  could  manage  better,  for  I  had  Gray's 
Structural  and  Physiological  Botany,  a  really 
excellent  text-book.  I  could  gather  plants  and 
dissect  them,  and  I  had  a  first-rate  microscope. 
I  therefore  taught  mechanics,  physics,  chemis- 
try, geology,  and  botany.  This  was  excellent 
training  for  me,  for  it  kept  alive  my  interest  in 
all  departments  of  science,  which  is  especially 
necessary  in  geology,  which  was  to  become  my 
chief  study.  I  believe  I  was  successful,  not 
only  in  teaching  but  also  in  gaining  the  affec- 
tions of  my  pupils. 

The  previous  August  Lewis  Jones  had  been 
elected  professor  of  geology  and  natural  his- 

155 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tory  in  the  University  of  Georgia,  a  much  better 
position  than  mine,  paying  twice  the  salary,  and 
one  for  which  I  certainly  should  have  made  ap- 
plication had  he  not  repeatedly  told  me  of  his 
intention  of  applying,  so  that  I  could  not  be  an 
applicant  without  seeming  to  violate  confidence 
and  friendship.  But  he  got  on  badly  with  the 
president,  who  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
bigoted,  dogmatic,  and  imperious  old  man,  and 
after  holding  the  chair  only  a  year  resigned  in 
anger  and  disgust.  I  at  once  determined  to  ap- 
ply for  the  place,  and  wrote  to  my  brother  John, 
who  was  a  professor  in  the  institution.  To  my 
disgust  I  learned  that  geology  and  botany  was 
not  considered  enough  for  one  man,  and  that 
French  would  be  tacked  on.  French  had  always 
wandered  from  one  professor  to  another,  seek- 
ing rest  but  finding  none ;  when  I  was  a  student, 
it  was  tacked  on  to  physics ;  its  present  habitat 
was  the  chair  of  geology  and  natural  history. 
I  read  French  with  ease,  but  I  could  not  speak 
it,  so  immediately  began  taking  lessons  from  an 
excellent  native  French  teacher.  I  was  elected 
in  December,  1852,  and  moved  to  Athens  in  the 
following  month. 

Still  I  had  no  zoology  to  teach,  and  I  was 
glad  of  it.     Agassiz  had  introduced  an  entirely 

156 


IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA 

new  mode  of  studying  and  teaching  zoology,  and 
my  preparation  was  entirely  ahead  of  the  times ; 
the  colleges  were  not  yet  ready  for  the  new 
method.  My  duties  were,  therefore,  the  teach- 
ing of  geology,  botany,  and  French.  After  six 
months,  however,  a  French  teacher  was  elected, 
and  my  work  was  confined  to  geology  and  bot- 
any, with  a  Monday  morning  class  in  natural 
theology.  All  Monday  morning  classes  were  of 
a  more  or  less  religious  nature,  because  such 
subjects  were  supposed  suitable  for  Sunday 
study.  This  natural  theology  class  I  greatly 
enjoyed,  as  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  bring- 
ing out  homologies  of  the  animal  kingdom  or 
general  laws  of  animal  structure  as  evidence  of 
a  divine  plan.  The  students  were  intensely  in- 
terested, as  it  was  all  new  to  them.  But  the 
lack  of  zoology  in  my  course,  with  this  excep- 
tion, carried  my  thought  and  work  more  and 
more  in  the  direction  of  geology. 

The  conditions  in  Athens  were  far  more  fa- 
vorable for  intellectual  activity  than  were  those 
in  Midway.  I  had  the  great  advantage  of  inti- 
mate association,  continued  ever  after,  with  my 
brother  John,  whose  scientific  knowledge  was 
the  widest  and  most  accurate  I  have  ever  known. 
Then  there  was  McCay,  formerly  my  teacher 

157 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  now  my  colleague,  an  excellent  mathemati- 
cian and  a  man  of  the  clearest  thought  and  most 
exact  method.  Later  there  were  LeRoy  Brown 
and  C.  S.  Venable.  With  the  rest  of  the  fac- 
ulty, except  with  the  younger  men,  especially 
Scherb,  the  instructor  in  French,  and  Henry 
Waddell,  instructor  in  Latin,  I  had  little  intel- 
lectual sympathy.  There  were  also  several  men 
of  great  intelligence  in  the  community,  such  as 
Hope  Hull,  Tom  Cobb,  Judge  Lumpkin,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Linebaugh.  John  and  I  took  a  walk 
of  two  or  three  miles  in  the  forest  every  morn- 
ing before  going  to  work,  and  Mr.  Linebaugh 
usually  joined  us. 

During  the  long  winter  vacation  in  1854,  in- 
stead of  going  to  our  plantation  in  Liberty 
County  as  usual,  we  went  to  Philadelphia  and 
Cambridge.  My  uncle  Jack  had  moved  from 
New  York  to  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  evenings 
his  house  was  the  gathering  place  of  scientific 
men;  John  Fraser,  Elwin,  Phillips,  Lea,  and 
many  others.  One  evening  John  Fraser  brought 
with  him  the  newly  invented  instrument,  the 
stereoscope.  I  had  never  before  seen  one,  but  I 
had  read  carefully  and  with  delight  all  that  had 
been  published  by  Wheatstone  in  description  of 
the  instrument  and  in  explanation  of  its  wonder- 

158 


IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA 

ful  effects.  His  theory,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  that  when  the  images  of  two  dissimilar  pic- 
tures fall  on  the  retinae  dissimilar  in  the  same 
way  and  to  the  same  degree  as  those  formed 
by  a  real  object  or  scene,  the  two  dissimilar 
images  are  mentally  fused  into  one,  and  appear 
as  a  real  solid  object  or  an  actual  scene.  Wheat- 
stone's  explanation  had  seemed  to  me  very  com- 
plete and  beautiful,  and  I  was  eager  to  test  it 
by  looking  through  the  stereoscope  at  the  dia- 
grams used  to  show  its  effects.  The  instru- 
ment passed  around,  and  the  beautiful  effects 
and  the  completeness  of  Wheatstone's  theory 
were  commented  on.  At  last  it  came  round  to 
me  as  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  party.  I 
looked  long  and  delightfully  at  the  stereoscopic 
effect,  and  then  remarked,  "  Yes,  it  is  very  beau- 
tiful, but  Wheatstone's  theory  is  not  true ;  there 
is  no  mental  fusion  at  all,  for  when  I  look  at  the 
farther  lines  of  the  united  diagrams,  the  nearer 
ones  are  doubled,  and  when  I  look  at  the  nearer 
lines,  the  farther  ones  are  doubled,  and  further- 
more, the  stereoscopic  effect  is  the  result  of  this 
doubling."  Exclamations  of  surprise  and  dis- 
sent were  heard  on  every  side.  I  was  unani- 
mously set  down  as  a  very  conceited  and  dis- 
putatious young  man  thus  to  set  up  my  opinion 

159 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

against  that  of  the  Great  Wheatstone.  I  was, 
of  course,  silenced;  but  I  knew  I  was  right. 
From  early  childhood  I  had  amused  myself 
with  experiments  on  binocular  combination  of 
figures,  and  had  acquired  unusual  power  of 
analysis  of  visual  impressions.  I  saw  plainly 
what  they  did  not  see.  I  was  perfectly  con- 
scious of  looking  nearer  and  farther,  and  of 
watching  the  slight  doubling  and  reunion  of  the 
lines.  I  was  young  and  did  not  sufficiently  ap- 
preciate the  importance  of  my  discovery  (for  it 
was  nothing  less)  as  I  should  have  done.  The 
very  theory  that  I  advocated  that  night  was 
brought  out  about  a  year  later  by  Briicke. 

While  in  Philadelphia  I  ransacked  the  city 
for  print-shops,  especially  old  ones  hidden  away 
in  cellars  in  out-of-the-way  places,  and  bought 
many  beautiful  engravings,  among  them  a  com- 
plete set  of  Retzsch's  outlines.  I  thus  began 
a  collection  of  inexpensive  art,  which  has  been 
a  source  of  unfailing  delight  to  me,  and  of  cul- 
ture to  my  children. 

From  Philadelphia  we  went  to  Cambridge  to 
see  our  friends  and  to  renew  old  associations 
there.  As  soon  as  Agassiz  knew  that  we  had 
arrived,  he  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  called  and  invited 
us  to  stay  at  their  home,  an  invitation  that  we, 

160 


IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA 

of  course,  accepted.  We  spent  a  week  with 
Agassiz,  and  a  more  delightful  week  it  is  im- 
possible to  imagine.  The  domestic  life  of  Agas- 
siz was  indeed  charming,  for  Mrs.  Agassiz  (his 
second  wife)  was  not  only  an  affectionate  wife 
but  one  of  the  wisest  of  women.  He  had  with 
him  at  this  time  his  son  Alexander,  then  in  col- 
lege, and  his  two  daughters,  Ida  and  Pauline, 
who  had  just  arrived  from  Neuchatel.  They 
were  beautiful  girls,  the  one  blonde  like  her 
father,  the  other  dark  and  high  featured,  doubt- 
less like  her  mother.  Agassiz  was  in  high 
spirits  and  very  happy.  He  took  a  great  fancy 
to  my  little  Sallie,  who  had  been  born  in  Cam- 
bridge and  was  then  just  three  years  old.  She 
was  very  bright  and  very  quick  to  learn,  and 
spoke  with  remarkable  distinctness.  Agassiz 
taught  her  the  names  of  all  his  dearest  speci- 
mens ;  and  partly  because  she  pronounced  the 
difficult  word  so  distinctly,  with  true  French  ac- 
cent, partly  because  she  was  a  little  quick-tem- 
pered, he  called  her  "  the  little  Echinoderm."  A 
little  child  in  the  home !  It  seemed  to  bring  back 
the  joy  of  his  early  married  life.  He  was  con- 
tinually playing  with  the  child,  even  taking  her 
on  his  back  and  getting  down  on  his  hands  and 
knees  and  "  playing  horse  "  all  around  the  din- 
12  161 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ing-table.  This  fondness  for  little  children,  this 
child-likeness  of  nature,  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  traits  of  Agassiz'  character;  and  yet 
it  is  not  brought  out  in  any  of  his  biographies, 
not  even  in  that  written  by  his  wife.  Women,  I 
think,  are  so  jealous  of  the  dignity  of  their  hus- 
bands, that  they  do  not  like  such  exhibitions  of 
primal  human  nature  in  the  presence  of  others. 
Agassiz  in  all  of  his  subsequent  letters  to  me 
never  failed  to  ask  after  "  the  little  Echino- 
derm." 

Agassiz'  house  was,  of  course,  the  gathering 
place  of  distinguished  men.  It  was  here  at 
evening  teas  that  I  first  became  well  acquainted 
with  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  whose  father  had 
been  pastor  of  the  Midway  church.  I  infinitely 
enjoyed  his  delicious  chirping — I  know  no  other 
word  that  expresses  it — over  his  tea. 

During  the  four  years  that  I  spent  in 
Athens  I  wrote  four  or  five  articles — popular, 
scientific,  educational,  and  philosophical.  These 
I  regarded  mainly  as  a  practise  in  the  art  of 
exposition,  and  therefore  published  in  the  stu- 
dents' magazine.  The  first  important  paper  I 
ever  wrote  was  entitled  On  the  Agency  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  in  the  Formation  of  the  Peninsula 
and  Keys  of  Florida.    It  was  based  on  my  own 

162 


IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GEORGIA 

observations  in  1851  and  on  the  subsequent  pub- 
lications of  Agassiz  on  the  reefs  of  Florida, 
and,  as  has  been  stated,  was  read  before  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  at  its  meeting  at  Albany  in  1856,  creat- 
ing marked  interest.  It  was  afterward  pub- 
lished in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Association  * 
and  in  the  number  of  the  American  Journal  of 
Science  f  that  followed  the  meeting,  and  was  the 
beginning  of  my  scientific  reputation.  The  con- 
clusions reached  in  it  have  been  substantially 
sustained  by  subsequent  observation,  although 
with  some  important  modifications  by  Alexan- 
der Agassiz.  My  ideas  concerning  the  mode  of 
formation  of  barrier  reefs,  without  subsidence, 
were  again  brought  out  thirty  years  later  by 
Captain  Guppy,  of  the  British  Navy;  but  my 
priority  was  frankly  acknowledged  by  him  as 
soon  as  his  attention  was  drawn  to  my  paper. 

In  1854  McCay  left  the  University  of  Geor- 
gia and  went  to  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and 
LeRoy  Brown  was  put  in  his  place.  In  1855  my 
brother  John  resigned  to  take  the  lectureship  in 
chemistry  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, New  York,  and  Venable  was  put  in  his 

*  X,  pt.  2,  103-119.  f  Sec.  ser.,  xxiii,  46-60. 

163 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

place.  People  began  to  inquire  why  it  was  that 
the  best  men  continued  to  leave  the  University 
of  Georgia.  The  president,  Dr.  Church,  unfor- 
tunately undertook  to  answer,  and  brought  such 
allegations  against  members  of  the  faculty  that 
McCay,  John  Le  Conte,  Lewis  Jones,  Nahum 
Wood,  and  Tom  Pond  were,  in  self-defense, 
drawn  into  a  controversy  that  finally  involved 
the  whole  faculty  and  led  to  the  removal  of  all 
by  the  Board  of  Trustees.  I  immediately  ap- 
plied for  the  professorship  of  chemistry  and 
geology  in  South  Carolina  College,  a  position 
then  vacant ;  was  elected  in  December,  1856 ;  and 
began  work  there  in  January,  1857.  In  October 
John  had  been  elected  to  the  chair  of  physics 
in  the  same  college,  so  that  he,  McCay,  and  I 
were  again  colleagues,  McCay  being  president. 
In  the  interval  between  my  resigning  from 
the  University  of  Georgia  and  beginning  work 
in  South  Carolina,  I  was  invited  by  Professor 
Henry  to  deliver  six  lectures  at  the  Smithson- 
ian Institution  at  Washington.  In  December, 
1856,  I  therefore  gave  three  lectures  on  coal 
and  three  on  coral  reefs.  They  were  delivered 
unwritten,  but  those  on  coal  were  afterward 
written  out  and  published  in  the  Smithsonian 
Report  for  1857,  pp.  119-168.    They  were  highly 

164 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

commended  at  the  time  by  the  best  men  in  the 
country,  e.  g.,  ex-President  Fillmore,  and  were 
translated  and  republished  in  France.  In  them 
were  brought  out  some  views  concerning  the 
affinities  of  gymnosperms  that  anticipated  by 
thirty  years  similar  views  brought  out  by  Lester 
Ward  in  America  and  Engler  in  Germany. 

While  in  Washington  I  spent  a  week  with 
Professor  Henry  and  can  never  forget  his 
charming  family  life  with  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ters and  the  wonderful  suggestiveness  of  his 
conversation.  Just  forty  years  later,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1896, 1  was  again  entertained  by  the  daugh- 
ters, who  still  live  in  Washington. 
— •  My  chair  in  the  South  Carolina  College  was, 
as  has  been  said,  chemistry  and  geology.  In 
geology  I  was  all  right,  but  as  I  had  taught 
chemistry  but  one  year  at  Oglethorpe  I  had  to 
work  hard  to  get  up  a  good  course  of  lectures 
on  that  subject.  McCay,  moreover,  besides  be- 
ing president  had  on  his  hands  the  very  heavy 
chair  of  mathematics,  and  this  being  more  than 
he  could  possibly  do  without  help,  he  asked 
me  to  take  his  freshman  classes.  This  I  did, 
though  very  reluctantly.  It  was,  however,  not 
without  benefit  to  me,  as  it  revived  my  interest 
in  mathematics,  very  necessary  in  physical  and 

165 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

dynamical  geology.  It  also  brought  me  into 
closer  contact  with  the  students.  This  was  a 
very  busy  year  with  me ;  I  had  three  lectures  a 
week  in  geology,  three  in  chemistry,  and  four 
recitations  in  algebra  and  geometry,  ten  exer- 
cises a  week  in  all.  It  was  impossible  to  do  any 
original  work. 

After  five  or  six  months  of  this  routine  work, 
there  occurred  another  catastrophe  and  a  gen- 
eral resignation  of  the  whole  faculty.  It  was  a 
very  painful  affair,  of  which  I  can  give  only  a 
brief  outline.  A  fuller  account  may  be  found 
in  La  Borde's  History  of  the  South  Carolina 
College. 

The  students  here  were  very  high-spirited 
and  honorable,  but  also  quite  turbulent.  They 
had  been  accustomed  to  being  governed  not  so 
much  by  law  as  by  the  personal  influence  and 
eloquence  of  Thornwell,  the  previous  presi- 
dent. McCay  was  not  popular — he  was  no 
speaker.  Thornwell  by  his  personal  magnet- 
ism had  created  a  very  high  sense  of  honor  and 
truthfulness  among  the  students;  they  would 
not  tolerate  among  themselves  or  in  their  teach- 
ers the  least  indirectness  of  method.  There  had 
been  some  trifling  breach  of  discipline  and  three 
of  the  students  were  suspended  for  two  weeks. 

166 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE     v. 

The  whole  body  of  students  petitioned  for  their 
restoration.  McCay,  knowing  that  his  presi- 
dency was  on  trial,  tried  to  arrange  matters  so 
as  to  avoid  collision  with  the  student  body. 
The  students  thought  that  his  method  was  in- 
direct and  deceptive,  and  positively  refused  to 
attend  his  classes.  Several  members  of  the  fac- 
ulty had  many  interviews  with  their  committee, 
but  they  would  not  yield.  The  student  body  was 
in  open  revolt  against  the  president  but  not 
against  the  faculty;  other  recitations  they  at- 
tended as  usual,  but  to  McCay's  they  would  not 
go.  The  faculty  could  not  act  because  its  mem- 
bers were  divided  among  themselves ;  there  was 
an  old  regime  and  a  new,  John  and  I  being  re- 
garded as  in  the  new.  The  Board  of  Trustees 
was  therefore  called  together,  the  resignations 
of  the  whole  faculty  were  asked  for,  and  the 
College  disbanded.  Three  of  us,  my  brother, 
Professor  Rivers,  and  I,  were  immediately  re- 
elected; and  all  the  other  chairs  and  the  pres- 
idency were  left  vacant  until  the  reorganization 
of  the  College  in  October. 

As  the  College  was  broken  up  in  May,  nearly 
a  month  before  the  end  of  the  term,  there  was  a 
long  vacation  of  about  four  months.  I  took  ad- 
vantage of  this  to  visit  the  Virginia  Springs  and 

167 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

the  University  of  Virginia.  At  the  springs  I 
met  a  number  of  the  professors  of  the  Uni- 
versity, especially  McGufTy,  Holcombe,  and 
Cabell,  and  greatly  enjoyed  my  intimate  asso- 
ciation with  them,  particularly  the  long  walks 
and  talks  with  McGufTy,  certainly  one  of  the 
most  suggestive  minds  I  ever  came  into  contact 
with.  I  also  enjoyed  immensely  the  celebrated 
swimming  baths  of  these  springs. 

In  August,  leaving  my  wife  and  two  children 
at  the  springs  pleasantly  situated  and  with  the 
best  of  company,  I  went  to  Montreal  to  attend 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science.  This  meeting  was  an 
eminently  successful  one,  a  number  of  English 
scientists  being  present.  The  people  of  Mon- 
treal were  very  hospitable,  and  got  up  several 
delightful  excursions  on  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
to  the  Saguenay.  But  the  striking  event  of 
the  meeting  was  the  address  of  Hall,  the  retir- 
ing president,  on  The  Formation  of  Moun- 
tain Chains  by  Sedimentation.  The  idea  was 
entirely  new  and  very  important.  But  a  new 
idea  is  always  taken  in  with  difficulty,  and  Hall 
was  far  from  clear  in  his  exposition,  so  that  he 
was  not  understood.  I  was  sitting  immediately 
in  front  of  Guyot,  who,  after  Hall  had  been 

168 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

trying  for  nearly  an  hour  to  make  himself  un- 
derstood, leaned  over  and  whispered  in  my 
ear,  "  Do  you  understand  what  he  is  talking 
about?"  "Not  a  word!"  I  answered.  It  is 
evident  now  that  he  was  bringing  out  a  very 
important  truth,  though  a  very  insufficient 
theory  of  mountain  origin.  Geologists  were 
not  then  ready  for  the  truth  contained  in  the 
address,  and  therefore  it  did  not  bear  fruit  for 
many  years. 

On  my  way  back  I  stayed  for  two  weeks  in 
Charlottesville  and  became  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  three  other  professors  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  Holmes,  Bledsoe,  and 
Gildersleeve.  Surely  the  University  at  that 
time  had  a  very  strong  corps  of  professors,  and 
certainly  my  association  with  them  was  very 
stimulating  to  thought. 

In  September  the  Trustees  of  the  South 
Carolina  College  met,  and  all  the  former  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  except  McCay  and  Pelham 
were  reelected.  The  College  reopened  in  Octo- 
ber with  La  Borde,  the  oldest  member  of  the 
faculty,  as  acting  president  and  Venable  in  the 
chair  of  mathematics.  In  January,  1858,  Judge 
A.  B.  Longstreet  was  elected  president.  He 
was  an  able  lawyer  and  judge  and  a  distin- 

169 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

guished  humorist,  as  all  know  who  have  read 
his  Georgia  Scenes,  Characters,  Incidents,  etc., 
in  the  First  Half  Century  of  the  Republic;  but 
he  was  utterly  unfit  for  the  presidency  of  a  col- 
lege. He  was  not  in  any  sense  a  cultured  man, 
and  could  not  inspire  the  highest  respect  of 
either  the  students  or  the  faculty.  He  was  not, 
however,  wanting  in  firmness;  and  as  the 
students  had  been  made  more  turbulent  than 
ever  by  their  apparent  triumph  of  the  previous 
year,  it  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  a  catas- 
trophe was  impending.  Calhoun's  birthday 
was  always  observed  as  a  holiday,  but  usually 
exercises  were  suspended  for  only  a  part  of  the 
day.  The  students  asked  for  the  entire  day; 
the  faculty  gave  all  but  the  morning  exercise, 
wishing  to  hold  them  to  their  rooms  the  previous 
night.  The  students  then  tarred  the  benches  of 
all  the  recitation  rooms,  rendering  them  unfit 
for  use.  On  being  asked  to  other  rooms  some 
classes  obeyed  and  some  refused.  The  refusal 
was  regarded  as  a  combination  to  defeat  the 
law,  and  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  stu- 
dents, more  than  half  of  the  number  in  the 
College,  were  suspended  until  the  opening  of 
the  October  term,  that  is,  for  more  than  five 
months.    t  They   were   required,   moreover,   to 

170 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

stand  a  rigid  examination  on  all  that  had 
been  passed  over  in  the  meantime,  a  very 
hard  condition,  as  many  subjects  were  taught 
only  by  lectures.  All  of  them  tried  the  ex- 
amination in  October,  and  about  one-half  suc- 
ceeded. In  January  those  rejected  tried  again, 
and  again  a  half  succeeded;  the  remaining 
twenty-five  or  thirty  then  gave  it  up.  The 
effect  of  this  sharp  discipline  was  excellent;  we 
had  no  more  trouble. 

I  have  said  that  the  students  in  the  South 
Carolina  College  were  high-spirited  though  tur- 
bulent. I  should  add  that  I  had  never  previ- 
ously seen  (nor  have  I  since)  so  high  a  sense  of 
honor  among  students  in  their  relations  to  one 
another  and  to  the  faculty.  No  form  of  un- 
truthfulness among  themselves  or  toward  the 
faculty  (such,  for  example,  as  cheating  at  ex- 
aminations) was  for  a  moment  tolerated.  Any 
student  suspected  of  such  practises  was  cut 
by  his  fellow-students  and  compelled  to  leave. 
"When  a  student  was  brought  up  before  the 
faculty  for  any  offense,  no  other  question  was 
asked  but,  "  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with 
this  affair?  "  The  answer  was  "  Yes  "  or  "  No," 
and  he  was  condemned  or  acquitted  on  his  own 
statement.    Sometimes  a  student  might  on  some 

171 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

technical  ground  refuse  to  answer,  but  no  one 
ever  lied. 

My  life  in  Columbia  was  perhaps  the  most 
pleasant  in  my  whole  career.  The  society  was 
the  most  refined  and  cultivated  I  have  ever 
known.  My  wife  was  delighted.  Three  insti- 
tutions of  learning,  the  South  Carolina  College, 
the  Theological  Seminary,  and  the  Military 
Academy  (Arsenal),  formed  the  nucleus  about 
which  gathered  many  intellectual  men  and 
women.  Such  men  as  Dr.  Thornwell,  Dr.  Palm- 
er, William  C.  Preston,  and  Wade  Hampton 
are  rare  in  any  community.  My  intellectual 
activity  was  powerfully  stimulated,  and  I  wrote 
many  articles,  mostly  of  a  literary  and  philo- 
sophical nature,  as,  for  instance,  my  inaugural 
address  in  December,  1857,  on  The  Place  of 
Geology  in  a  Course  of  Education;  The  Rela- 
tion of  Morphology  to  Fine  Art;  The  General 
Principles  of  a  Liberal  Education ;  Female  Edu- 
cation; The  Relation  of  School,  College,  and 
University  to  One  Another  and  to  Active  Life; 
The  Relation  of  Biology  to  Sociology ;  and  The 
Nature  and  Uses  of  Fine  Art.  The  first  four  of 
these  were  given  as  addresses  before  academic 
audiences ;  the  others  were  written  without 
any  intention  of  publication,  but  only  because 

172 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

the  thoughts  were  burning  within  and  must 
come  out  in  expression.  After  having  been 
written,  they  were  thrown  into  my  drawer,  and 
afterward,  sometimes  months  afterward,  were 
begged  from  me  by  Dr.  Thornwell  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Review. 
They  were  afterward  recast  and  published 
severally  in  the  Princeton  Review,*  the  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  f  and  the  Overland  Monthly4 
Meanwhile,  however,  pure  science  was  not 
neglected,  for  in  1859  I  wrote  and  read  before 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  my  original  paper  on  The  Cor- 
relation of  Physical,  Chemical,  and  Vital  Force, 
and  the  Conservation  of  Force  in  Vital  Phe- 
nomena. This  created  great  interest  among 
scientific  men  at  the  time.  It  was  published  in 
the  Proceedings  *  of  the  Association  and  repub- 
lished in  full  in  the  American  Journal  of  Sci- 
ence, ||  and  the  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin 
Philosophical  Magazine,A  and  in  abstract  in  the 
Canadian  Naturalist.O  Still  later  I  recast  it  in 
more  popular  form  and  published  it  in  the  Pop- 

*  N.  S.,  v,  177-204.  ||  Sec.  ser.,  xxyiii,  305-319. 

f  XIV,  325-336,  425-434.  A  XIX,  133. 

%  Sec.  ser.,  v,  337-347.  0  First  ser.,  iv,  291-293. 
•XIII,  187-203. 

173 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ular  Science  Monthly  in  1873,*  and  again  as  an 
appendix  to  Stewart's  Conservation  of  Energy, 
of  the  International  Scientific  Series. 

The  summer  of  1858  was  spent  by  my  broth- 
er's family  and  my  own  at  Flat  Rock,  in  North 
Carolina.  This  beautiful  place  is  the  summer 
resort  of  many  of  the  most  cultured  families  of 
Charleston  and  the  low  countries  generally, 
some  of  whom  have  here  charming  houses  and 
grounds,  with  fountains,  artificial  lakes,  etc. 
We  were  often  invited  to  dine  with  these  de- 
lightful people.  I  took  advantage  of  this 
opportunity  to  visit  Asheville,  to  climb  Black 
Mountain  (Mt.  Mitchell),  the  highest  peak  of 
the  Appalachians,  6,710  feet  high,  and  to  run 
down  the  French  Broad  River.  The  scenery  in 
this  region,  in  which  Biltmore  was  subse- 
quently located,  is  the  finest  I  have  yet  seen  in 
the  United  States. 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  do  justice  to  the 
brilliancy  and  originality  of  Langdon  Chevts,  a 
planter  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  near  the 
Savannah  River,  by  recording  some  views  of  his 
expressed  to  me  in  a  conversation  at  Flat  Rock 
on  the  origin  of  species.     We  had  both  read  that 

*  IV,  156-170. 

174 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

remarkable  book  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History 
of  Creation,  published  in  1844,  and  he  had  cor- 
dially embraced  the  idea  of  origin  of  species  by 
transmutation  of  previous  species,  while  I  con- 
trarily  held  to  Agassiz'  views  of  creation  ac- 
cording to  a  preordained  plan.  We  had  it  hot 
and  heavy.  When  I  brought  forward  the  ap- 
parently unanswerable  objection  drawn  from 
the  geographical  distribution  of  species  and  the 
manner  in  which  contiguous  fauna  pass  into  one 
another,  i.  e.,  by  substitution  instead  of  trans- 
mutation, his  answer  was  exactly  what  an  evo- 
lutionist would  give  to-day — viz.,  that  inter- 
mediate links  would  be  killed  off  in  the  strug- 
gle for  life  as  less  suited  to  the  environment; 
in  other  words  that  only  the  fittest  would  sur- 
vive. It  must  be  remembered  that  this  was  be- 
fore the  publication  of  Darwin's  book,  and  the 
answer  was  wholly  new  to  me  and  struck  me 
very  forcibly. 

Why  did  he  not  publish  his  idea?  No  one 
well  acquainted  with  the  Southern  people,  and 
especially  with  the  Southern  planters,  would  ask 
such  a  question.  Nothing  could  be  more  re- 
markable than  the  wide  reading,  the  deep  reflec- 
tion, the  refined  culture,  and  the  originality  of 
thought  and  observation  characteristic  of  them ; 

175 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  yet  the  idea  of  publication  never  even  en- 
tered their  minds.  What  right  had  any  one  to 
publish  unless  it  was  something  of  the  greatest 
importance,  something  that  would  revolution- 
ize thought?  My  father  was  an  extreme  in- 
stance of  such  indifference  to  publication,  and 
I  myself  for  the  same  reason  was  slow  to  pub- 
lish. Many  important  observations  that  I  made 
on  the  geological  processes  going  on  about  me 
everywhere  in  the  South,  especially  on  the  for- 
mation of  soil  by  the  rotting  down  of  rocks 
in  situ  and  on  mountain  sculpture  in  Tennessee, 
I  gave  every  year  in  my  class  lectures,  but  did 
not  dream  of  publishing.  Soon  after  the  war 
Hall  and  Hunt  visited  the  South  and  brought 
out  these  same  facts,  and  very  rightly  received 
due  credit  therefor. 

In  October,  1858,  appeared  the  splendid 
comet  of  Donati,  the  most  magnificent  celestial 
phenomenon  I  had  ever  seen.  With  what  won- 
der and  intense  yearning  I  gazed  at  it  every 
night !  From  early  boyhood  this  upward  yearn- 
ing of  my  soul  as  if  it  would  go  out  of  me  has 
always  affected  me  in  the  presence  of  the  starry 
heavens,  especially  when  I  gazed  at  the  bright 
evening  star.  This  yearning  now  returned 
upon  me  in  the  presence  of  this  glorious  comet. 

176 


IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  COLLEGE 

The  summer  of  1859  I  spent  mostly  in 
Columbia,  as  Mrs.  Le  Conte  was  not  well. 
After  an  absence  of  two  weeks  attending  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  where  I  read  a  paper, 
as  previously  stated,  I  came  back  to  my  family, 
who  had  been  staying  with  my  sister  at  Orange- 
burg, and  we  all  returned  to  Columbia,  where 
my  third  daughter,  Josephine  Eloise,  was  born 
on  the  twenty-ninth  of  September.  Little 
Josie,  dear  little  Josie !  I  can  not  even  mention 
her  name  without  the  tenderest  emotions.  She 
was  the  most  beautiful  child  we  ever  had,  with 
that  rare  combination  of  flaxen  hair  and  dark 
eyes.  Alas!  we  lost  her  just  two  years  later. 
The  light,  the  sunlight,  the  spiritual  light 
seemed  to  have  gone  out  of  my  house.  Is  it 
possible  that  the  object  of  such  love  can  be  other 
than  immortal?  If  it  is  mortal,  then  the  noblest 
feelings  of  our  nature  are  vain  and  should  be 
suppressed.    Surely  this  can  not  be  true. 


13  177 


CHAPTER   VII 

IN   TIME   OF   WAB 

During  the  summer  of  1860  I  was  again 
absent  from  Columbia  for  two  weeks,  attending 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  at  Newport,  at  which 
meeting  I  was  elected  the  General  Secretary  of 
the  Association.  This  was  the  last  meeting  held 
until  the  one  in  Nashville  in  1866,  and  was  there- 
fore memorable.  Every  one  felt  a  deep,  sup- 
pressed uneasiness  concerning  the  political  con- 
ditions of  the  country.  It  was  like  the  stifling 
air  before  a  storm.  Political  parties  were  all 
split  up,  there  being  four  presidential  candi- 
dates in  the  field :  Douglas,  Democrat ;  Breckin- 
ridge, Southern  Democrat ;  Lincoln,  Black  Re- 
publican; and  Bell,  Old  Line  Whig.  Douglas 
made  a  stirring  appeal  at  Newport  while  the 
Association  was  in  session,  and  I  went  to  hear 
him. 

I  returned  to  Columbia  in  September,  Lin- 
178 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

coin  was  elected  in  November,  and  then  the 
storm  burst;  first,  the  secession  of  South  Caro- 
lina, then  of  other  States,  then  the  dreadful  war 
between  the  North  and  South.  At  first  I  was 
extremely  reluctant  to  join  in,  and  was  even  op- 
posed to  the  secession  movement ;  I  doubted  its 
necessity  and  dreaded  the  impending  conflict 
and  its  result.  A  large  number  of  the  best  and 
most  thoughtful  men  all  over  tho  South  felt  as 
I  did ;  but  gradually  a  change  came  about — how, 
who  can  say?  It  was  in  the  atmosphere;  we 
breathed  it  in  the  air;  it  reverberated  from 
heart  to  heart;  it  was  like  a  spiritual  conta- 
gion— good  or  bad,  who  could  say?  But  the 
final  result  was  enthusiastic  unanimity  of  senti- 
ment throughout  the  South.  Those  who  were 
latest  and  most  reluctant,  because  they  saw  the 
seriousness  of  the  result,  were  also  the  most 
earnest  and  most  reliable.  Those  who  did  not 
join  in  the  movement  were,  with  a  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, like  James  L.  Petigru,  untrue  men  in 
every  way,  North  and  South  alike.  "  Copper- 
heads "  and  "  skalawags  "  were,  with  few  excep- 
tions, alike  false.  I  spoke  of  Mr.  Petigru  as  an 
exception.  From  the  first  and  throughout  the 
war  he  was  a  Union  man,  speaking  openly  and 
never  concepding  his   opposition  to   secession. 

179 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

He  said  the  State,  which  he  loved  dearly,  was 
demented,  rushing  on  ruin;  but  submitted 
quietly  and  sorrowfully.  Every  one  respected 
his  views  and  such  was  the  confidence  in  his  in- 
tegrity that  after  the  war  the  State  gave  him 
the  work  of  codifying  the  laws. 

The  Secession  Convention,  which  sat  in 
Columbia  in  December,  1860,  was  the  gravest, 
ablest,  and  most  dignified  body  of  men  I  ever 
saw  brought  together.  They  were  fully  aware 
of  the  extreme  gravity  of  their  action.  While 
the  Convention  was  in  session  smallpox  broke 
out  in  Columbia,  so  the  deliberations  were  con- 
tinued in  Charleston  and  the  secession  decree 
signed  there.  Then  followed  in  quick  succes- 
sion the  secession  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  Florida,  and  Texas ;  then  the 
creation  of  a  national  government,  with  its  cap- 
ital at  Montgomery,  Alabama;  then  the  seces- 
sion of  Virginia,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  and 
Arkansas ;  and  finally  the  removal  of  the  capital 
to  Richmond,  Virginia. 

This  secession  movement  was  first  called  an 
insurrection,  and  later  a  rebellion;  and  the  war 
which  followed  is  commonly  spoken  of  in  history 
as  "  the  War  of  the  Rebellion."  Nothing  can 
be  more  absurd.     The  Confederate  States  coni- 

180 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

posed  a  thoroughly  organized  government,  as 
much  so  as  the  United  States.  During  the 
whole  war  the  machinery  of  government  was 
practically  perfect.  It  was  a  war  between  the 
States,  or  better  still,  a  war  between  two  nations. 
For  each  side  it  was  really  a  foreign  war.  I  am 
not  speaking  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  only 
of  acknowledged  facts.  I  am  not  blaming  any- 
body on  either  side.  It  was  evidently  an  hon- 
est difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  our 
government ;  it  was  honestly  fought  out  to  a  fin- 
ish and  the  result  frankly  accepted.  But  let  it 
be  distinctly  understood,  that  there  never  was 
a  war  in  which  were  more  thoroughly  enlisted 
the  hearts  of  the  whole  people — men,  women, 
and  children — than  were  those  of  the  South  in 
this.  To  us  it  was  literally  a  life  and  death 
struggle  for  national  existence ;  and  doubtless 
the  feeling  was  equally  honest  and  earnest  on 
the  other  side. 

I  shall  not  speak  in  detail  of  the  course  of 
the  war,  for  that  belongs  to  history;  but  shall 
speak  only  of  my  personal  experiences  during 
the  conflict.  The  College  went  on  quietly  dur- 
ing 1860  and  1861.  In  the  spring  of  '61  there 
was  the  siege  of  Fort  Sumter  by  our  forces  and 
the  firing  on  the  United  States  vessel  bringing 

181 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

supplies  to  the  beleaguered  fort.  Instantly  the 
whole  country  was  ablaze;  troops  were  called 
out  by  Lincoln,  and  the  war  was  actually  on.  A 
large  number  of  students  left  the  College  to 
join  our  forces,  but  still  we  went  on  with  dimin- 
ished numbers.  In  the  spring  of  '62  the  stress 
of  war  became  greater  and  the  number  of  our 
students  was  reduced  to  forty  or  fifty,  but  still 
the  College  continued.  In  June,  1862,  came  the 
terrible  seven  days'  battle  for  the  possession  of 
Richmond  and  the  call  for  all  men  over  eighteen, 
and  the  College  was  perforce  disbanded,  for  all 
the  students  volunteered. 

Edwin  Nisbet,  Mrs.  Le  Conte's  brother,  was 
in  the  battles  about  Richmond,  and  lay  desper- 
ately sick  of  typhoid  fever  there.  We  there- 
fore went  on  to  nurse  him.  The  condition  of 
the  city  and  the  surrounding  country  after  the 
battles  was  awful.  There  were  twenty-five 
thousand  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals  in 
the  city  and  many  more  in  the  hospital  camps 
in  the  vicinity.  The  blessedness  of  surgery 
and  the  nobleness  of  surgeons  were  well  shown 
here ;  the  sick  and  wounded  were  of  both  armies, 
and  the  surgeons  of  both  sides  worked  together 
in  the  alleviation  of  pain  and  the  cure  of  disease. 
I  visited  the  hospital  camp  at  Savage  Station, 

182 


IN   TIME    OP   WAR 

and  found  the  condition  of  affairs  horrible. 
All  the  buildings  were  utilized  and  tents  added, 
but  still  there  was  not  sufficient  room  and  hun- 
dreds of  sick  and  dying  lay  under  the  trees. 
For  want  of  sufficient  nurses,  neglect  was  un- 
avoidable. I  myself  took  the  typhoid  in  Rich- 
mond and  was  sick  three  weeks.  In  the  mean- 
time Edwin  recovered  and  we  went  back  to 
Columbia  together. 

Though  our  salaries  at  the  College  con- 
tinued, as  we  were  State  officers,  they  were 
dreadfully  insufficient  on  account  of  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  currency,  and  I  found  it  necessary 
to  supplement  mine.  In  October,  1862,  I  was 
appointed  one  of  three  arbitrators  in  an  action 
brought  to  decide  the  right  of  the  Confederate 
Government  to  the  possession  of  the  niter  caves. 
I  went  to  Atlanta  and  heard  arguments  by  the 
best  lawyers  for  three  weeks,  rendered  my  de- 
cision, and  then  returned  to  Columbia.  During 
these  dark  days  of  the  war  I  wrote  some  of  the 
papers  already  named.  One  of  them,  The 
Nature  and  Uses  of  the  Fine  Arts,  which  I  con- 
sider one  of  my  best,  was  written  in  1863,  when 
the  whole  South  was  in  an  agony  of  conflict. 
The  College  was  suspended;  I  must  do  some- 
thing ;  I  thought  and  wrote.    Finally  this  would 

183 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

not  answer.  I  felt  that  I  must  do  something  in 
support  of  the  cause  that  absorbed  every  feel- 
ing. Just  as  I  was  asking  myself  how  I  could 
turn  my  scientific  knowledge  to  some  useful  ac- 
count, a  large  manufactory  of  medicines  for  the 
army  was  established  in  the  suburbs  of  Colum- 
bia, and  I  was  asked  to  be  the  chemist.  I  ac- 
cepted, and  for  about  eighteen  months  was  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  on  a  large  scale  of 
many  kinds  of  medicine,  alcohol,  nitrate  of  sil- 
ver, chloroform,  sulfuric  ether,  nitric  ether, 
podophyllin,  etc.  The  whole  army  was  sup- 
plied by  this  laboratory  with  all  medicines,  ex- 
cept those  that  could  be  had  more  easily  by  run- 
ning the  blockade. 

In  1864,  without  solicitation  on  my  part,  I 
was  appointed  chemist  of  the  Niter  and  Min- 
ing Bureau,  with  the  rank  and  pay  of  major. 
My  business  was  to  test  all  nitrous  earth, 
whether  from  caves  or  niter  beds.  My  labora- 
tory was  that  of  the  College,  and  I  was  given 
an  accomplished  analyst  as  assistant.  In  the 
summer  I  visited  all  the  niter  caves  in  northern 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Tennessee,  all  the  niter 
beds  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Alabama, 
and  the  iron  mines  and  blast-furnace  at  Shelby- 
ville,  Alabama.    Here  I  also  found  a  Bessemer 

184 


IN   TIME   OF   WAR 

furnace,  the  first  I  had  ever  seen  and  the  only 
one  in  the  Confederacy.  In  September  I  re- 
turned to  Columbia  and  prepared  my  report  to 
St.  John,  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau,  in  Richmond. 
Meanwhile  Sherman  was  coming  down  from 
Chattanooga  toward  Atlanta,  Johnston  slowly 
retreating  before  him  but  contesting  every  foot 
of  the  way.  Then  Atlanta  was  taken  and  John- 
ston superseded  by  Hood,  a  great  blunder. 
Then  we  heard  that  Hood  had  gone  around  to 
Sherman's  rear  and  invaded  Tennessee,  leaving 
the  door  open  to  the  south  for  Sherman  to 
march  through  Georgia  from  the  mountains  to 
the  sea,  an  easy  thing  to  do,  since  there  was  no 
force  to  oppose  him.  Next  we  heard  that 
Hood's  army  had  been  met  and  shattered  by 
Thomas  and  that  the  remnants  were  hastening 
to  South  Carolina  again  to  get  in  front  of  Sher- 
man. In  the  meantime  his  army  was  nearing 
Savannah  and  would  certainly  ravage  the  whole 
coast.  My  widowed  sister,  her  two  girls,  and 
my  own  fourteen-year-old  daughter  were  at 
Halifax,  my  sister's  plantation,  some  thirty-five 
miles  south  of  Savannah,  with  no  one  to  protect 
them  but  faithful  negroes*  I  hastened  to  their 
rescue,  leaving  Columbia  on  the  ninth  of  De- 
cember. 

185 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Within  ten  miles  of  Savannah  the  train  came 
to  a  standstill,  and  we  learned  that  the  bridge 
over  the  Savannah  River  was  already  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  and  partially  burned. 
Though  within  forty-five  miles  of  my  destina- 
tion, I  had  to  return  to  Columbia,  therefore,  and 
try  to  reach  Liberty  from  the  south  by  a  dCtour 
of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  After  many 
unpleasant  experiences,  particularly  because  of 
the  lack  o'f  food  and  sleep,  and  some  real  dan- 
ger, the  train  being  shelled  by  the  enemy,  I 
reached  Columbia  again  five  days  after  my  de- 
parture. 

Three  days  later  I  set  out  once  more,  going 
by  rail  to  Mayfield  and  thence,  as  the  railroads 
in  Georgia  had  been  torn  up  in  Sherman's 
Grand  March,  by  the  wagon  road  to  Macon. 
From  Macon  I  went  by  rail  and  stage  to 
Thomasville,  traveling  ail  night  and  suffering 
intensely  from  the  cold.  This  town  fairly 
swarmed  with  refugees,  from  whom  I  learned 
that  the  Yankees  had  already  been  in  Liberty 
and  wantonly  destroyed  the  stock  and  crops. 
My  sister,  I  was  informed,  was  probably  still 
in  her  home,  so  on  the  twenty-fourth  I  went  on 
to  Doctortown,  the  extreme  outpost  of  the  Con- 
federate forces  in  that  quarter  and  but  twenty- 

186 


IN    TIME    OF   WAR 

six  miles  from  Halifax.  As  Liberty  still 
swarmed  with  Yankees,  I  determined  to  remain 
quietly  in  Doctortown  till  I  could  get  word  to 
my  sister  by  scouts. 

Christmas  opened  bright  and  beautiful,  but 
was  a  very  anxious  day  for  me.  One  of  my 
own  negroes  arrived  and  told  me  that  all  the 
animals  on  my  place  had  been  killed  and  much 
of  the  corn  and  rice  carried  off  or  destroyed. 
Later  in  the  day  I  met  a  negro  who,  having 
guided  his  master  to  safety,  was  about  to  return 
to  Liberty,  and  by  him  I  sent  a  letter  to  my 
sister  entreating  her  to  come  to  me  with  the 
girls. 

I  remained  in  camp  at  Doctortown  a  whole 
week  in  enforced  inactivity.  On  the  twenty-  . 
seventh  I  received  a  letter  from  my  sister  say- 
ing that  as  there  was  not  a  horse  or  vehicle  left 
in  the  whole  county  she  had  no  means  of  com-  ; 
ing  to  me,  and  begging  me  by  no  means  to  at- 
tempt to  come  to  her,  as  the  Yankees  were  still 
numerous  in  the  vicinity  of  her  house.  In  this 
dilemma  the  general  who  was  in  command  of 
the  camp  consented  to  send  out  a  party  with  a 
flag  of  truce  to  represent  to  the  enemy  the  pain- 
ful position  of  the  ladies  and  to  ask  their  help 
in   removing   all   who   desired   to   leave.     The 

187 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

squad  returned  with  the  word  that  they  had 
seen  no  Yankees,  so  Major  Camp,  Captain 
Varnedoe,  and  I  immediately  began  prepara- 
tions to  bring  out  our  friends.  I  decided  to  go 
ahead  and  prepare  them  for  the  coming  of  the 
wagons,  and  started  off  on  New  Year's  day  with 
a  bounding  step,  a  light  heart,  and  joyous  an- 
ticipations of  soon  meeting  my  loved  ones  and 
rescuing  them  from  the  scenes  of  desolation  and 
the  dread  of  further  violence.  The  task  I  had 
undertaken  was  no  light  one,  for,  except  the 
bridge  across  the  Altamaha  Elver,  all  the 
bridges  and  trestles  over  the  many  swamps  had 
been  burned.  But  I  laughed  to  scorn  all  diffi- 
culties, provided  myself  with  passports,  and  was 
soon  beyond  the  pickets. 

At  the  lake,  an  old  slough  or  river-bed 
partly  silted  up,  I  met  a  friend  who  told  me  that 
the  Yankees  had  by  no  means  left  the  county; 
that  he  himself  had  been  dodging  them  in  the 
woods  for  a  fortnight,  escaping  only  "  by  the 
skin  of  his  teeth."  The  news  somewhat  stag- 
gered me,  but  I  determined  to  go  on  at  any  risk, 
but  with  extreme  caution. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  I  reached  Walthour- 
ville  and  found  the  village  deserted  and  the 
homes  of  many  of  my  friends  but  blackened 

188 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

ruins.  Only  one  man,  Mr.  Cay,  was  still  in  his 
home  and  he  warmly  invited  me  to  share  his 
supper  and  bed.  At  daybreak  next  morning  I 
started  again  and  by  nine  o'clock  had  reached 
my  sister's  house.  I  approached  it  unobserved 
and  knocked  sharply.  After  a  few  minutes  the 
door  was  opened  by  the  old  negro  house-serv- 
ant, who  on  recognizing  me  uttered  a  wild 
scream,  seized  me  by  both  hands,  and  dragged 
me,  she  screaming  and  I  laughing,  up-stairs  to 
her  mistress'  room.  In  a  moment  I  held  my 
loved  ones  in  my  arms.  Then  followed  the  sad 
recital  of  their  sufferings  and  losses.  Every 
day  for  nearly  two  weeks  the  Yankees  had  en- 
tered their  house,  each  separate  gang  ransack- 
ing every  room  and  taking  whatever  they  de- 
sired. I  told  them  my  reasons  for  believing 
that  they  had  left  the  county  but  would  soon  re- 
turn, and  urged  them  to  prepare  for  immediate 
departure.  The  young  ladies  were  eager  to  go 
at  once;  but  as  my  sister  had  much  to  pack,  it 
was  arranged  that  I  should  return  for  her. 
About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  received 
word  from  Captain  Varnedoe  that  the  wagons 
were  hidden  in  a  swamp  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  us,  but  that,  as  the  Yankees  were  certainly 
returning,  if  they  had  not  already  returned,  it 

189 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

would  be  necessary  for  us  to  lie  perdue  for  a 
while,  or  to  turn  back  and  escape. 

As  it  was  clearly  impossible  to  go  out  by 
wagon,  I  determined  to  take  my  daughter  to 
Doctortown  on  horseback,  one  of  the  negroes 
having  offered  to  lend  me  an  old,  broken-down 
horse  that  the  Yankees  had  abandoned.  At  day- 
break on  the  third,  after  a  sad,  sad  good-by  and 
a  solemn  promise  to  return  for  the  others  as 
soon  as  possible,  we  started,  Sallie  on  the  old 
horse  and  my  man  Joshua  and  I  on  foot.  As 
we  entered  the  main  road  to  Walthourville  we 
heard  shots  about  half  a  mile  to  the  north  that 
showed  that  the  Yankees  were  approaching  Hali- 
fax. It  was  indeed  a  narrow  escape.  About 
sunrise  a  neighbor  ran  out  from  his  house  to  say 
that  it  was  simple  madness  to  go  on,  that  the 
Yankees  had  been  at  Walthourville  the  night 
before  and  would  probably  come  down  that  very 
road.  As  they  were  certainly  in  possession  of 
the  road  behind  us,  I  decided  to  push  on,  how- 
ever, but  with  more  caution,  keeping  a  sharp 
lookout  for  hiding-places. 

About  nine  o'clock  we  approached  Walthour- 
ville, and  having  sent  Joshua  ahead  to  recon- 
noiter,  Sallie  and  I  turned  aside  into  a  thickly 
wooded  branch  road  and  sat  down  to  rest.    We 

190 


IN    TIME    OF   WAR 

had  not  been  hidden  more  than  ten  minutes  when 
we  realized  that  the  Yankees  were  encamped  in 
the  woods  not  over  fifty  yards  from  us.  They 
were  evidently  breaking  camp,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes came  galloping  by.  If  our  Rosinante  had 
had  the  least  spark  of  spirit,  had  he  neighed 
once  in  answer  to  the  snorting  of  the  horses,  we 
should  have  been  lost;  but  he  didn't  even  prick 
up  his  ears,  having  evidently  seen  enough  of 
that  sort  of  thing. 

All  day  long  horsemen  went  galloping  and 
wagons  rumbling  by  within  fifty  yards  of  where 
we  sat  concealed.  About  four  o'clock,  the  gal- 
loping having  in  a  measure  ceased,  I  crept  on 
my  hands  and  knees  to  the  road  and  examined 
the  tracks.  To  my  dismay  and  intense  disap- 
pointment I  found  that  a  considerable  number 
led  up  the  road  toward  Doctortown.  The  con- 
viction was  forced  upon  me  that  we  could  not  go 
on.  About  sunset  Joshua  returned,  and  he 
agreed  with  me  that  we  should  have  to  turn  back. 
Soon  after  dark,  therefore,  we  sadly  and  cau- 
tiously started  on  our  return,  and  by  nine  o'clock 
were  again  at  Halifax.  The  Yankees  had  told 
my  sister  that  on  the  sixth  they  would  leave  the 
county  and  not  return,  so  I  decided  to  hide  in 
the  woods  until  their  departure  and  then  take 

191 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

my  friends  out.  But  I  was  so  worn  out  by  my 
eighteen-mile  walk  and  the  constant  suspense 
and  anxiety  that  this  night  I  determined  to  sleep 
in  the  house,  though  several  thousand  Yankees 
were  encamped  only  three  or  four  hundred 
yards  distant. 

I  learned  in  the  morning  that  three  of  the 
negroes,  fearing  that  the  Yankees  might  have 
heard  of  my  being  in  the  house,  had  patrolled 
the  roads  all  night  while  I  peacefully  slept. 
The  same  faithful  and  affectionate  fellows  be- 
fore daybreak  conducted  me  to  the  hiding-place 
they  had  selected,  a  dry  spot  in  the  midst  of  a 
strip  of  thick,  swampy  ground  surrounded  by  a 
ten-foot  canal.  They  made  a  comfortable  bed 
of  Spanish  moss,  spread  over  it  a  blanket,  and 
left  me  to  my  meditations.  Soon  the  Yankees 
were  swarming  in  the  fields  on  both  sides  of  me, 
popping  at  everything  they  could  see;  but  I 
became  so  absorbed  in  one  of  James's  novels, 
with  which  I  had  been  provided,  that  I  entirely 
forgot  their  presence  save  when  they  came  ex- 
ceptionally near.  At  night  I  again  alept  in  the 
house,  but  as  it  was  evident  from  questions  they 
had  asked  that  the  Yankees  had  some  inkling 
of  my  presence,  only  partially  undressed  and 
was  ready  for  immediate  flight. 

192 


IN   TIME    OF   WAS 

The  following  day  was  passed  as  the  previ- 
ous one  had  been.  On  returning  to  the  house 
at  night  I  noticed  several  fires  in  the  distance 
and  learned  that  the  Yankees  were  burning 
houses,  a  sign,  the  negroes  told  me,  that  they 
would  leave  on  the  morrow.  About  noon  of  the 
sixth,  therefore,  as  all  appeared  to  have  gone,  I 
again  prepared  to  leave  with  my  daughter.  In 
the  midst  of  the  preparations,  however,  a  picket 
ran  in  to  say  that  a  party  of  Yankees  was  ap- 
proaching, and  I  immediately  darted  through 
the  cluster  of  negro  houses  and  hid  in  the  gall- 
bushes  behind.  The  party  soon  rode  on,  but 
the  incident  convinced  me  that  it  was  not  yet 
safe  to  attempt  to  go  out,  so  I  returned  to  my 
hiding-place  in  the  swamp. 

The  next  day  one  of  the  negroes  came  with 
the  word  that  a  party  had  come  from  Doctor- 
town  under  a  flag  of  truce  with  wagons  for  car- 
rying out  the  ladies.  As,  however,  all  could  not 
be  accommodated,  my  sister  decided  to  remain 
until  I  could  return  for  her.  About  noon  they 
started,  nine  ladies,  their  children  and  servants. 
It  was  a  strange,  sad,  and  never-to-be-forgotten 
sight;  so  many  ladies,  nurtured  in  tenderness 
and  plenty,  never  knowing  want  or  even  hard- 
ship, now  driven  from  their  homes,  they  hardly 
14  193 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

knew  whither.  And  yet  so  great  had  been  the 
distress  of  mind  and  even  terror  for  the  previ- 
ous three  weeks  that  on  leaving  they  were  in 
the  highest  spirits. 

After  visiting  my  own  plantation  and  giving 
the  overseer  directions,  I  returned  to  Halifax 
and  walked  thence  to  Walthourville,  overtaking 
the  ladies  there.  Next  morning  I  walked  to 
Doctortown  to  prepare  for  their  recejotion,  and 
by  two  o'clock  all  were  safe  there.  The  day 
after  I  took  my  own  party  on  the  cars  to 
Thomas ville,  and  from  there  sent  them  by 
wagon  in  charge  of  a  friend  to  Macon,  while  I 
returned  to  Doctortown  to  arrange  for  bringing 
out  my  sister  and  her  baggage. 

On  the  walk  from  Doctortown  to  Halifax  I 
found  to  my  dismay  that  the  waters  of  the  Back- 
swamp  were  far  more  swollen  than  I  had  previ- 
ously seen  them,  so  that  I  had  to  wade  for  over 
half  a  mile  in  water  more  than  waist-deep  and 
against  a  strong  current. 

From  Halifax  I  went  over  to  my  own  place 
and  had  a  talk  with  the  negroes.  As  they  stood 
bareheaded  in  a  semicircle  about  me,  I  told 
them  that  if  they  desired  to  go  with  me,  I  would 
make  some  kind  of  provision  for  them,  if  it  took 
my  last  dollar,  though  just  how  I  could  provide 

194 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

for  them  I  did  not  know ;  if,  however,  they  pre- 
ferred remaining  on  the  plantation,  there  was 
plenty  of  corn  and  rice  but  no  meat,  as  all  of  my 
stock  had  been  destroyed.  With  one  accord 
they  replied  that  if  I  had  a  place  on  which  to 
put  them,  where  they  would  not  again  be  dis- 
turbed by  Yankees,  and  provisions  and  meat  for 
them,  they  would  go  willingly;  but  that  they 
preferred  remaining  where  they  were  to  being 
carried  they  knew  not  whither.  I  told  them  that 
I  thought  they  had  decided  wisely  and  spoke  to 
tEem  of  the  necessity  not  only  of  work  but  of  or- 
ganized work  and  hence  of  a  head  to  direct. 
They  expressed  their  willingness  to  work  as 
they  always  had  done  if  /  would  take  charge  and 
direct,  but  said  that  they  could  not  get  along 
with  the  overseer,  seeming  to  think  in  fact  that 
their  day  of  deliverance  from  overseers  had 
come.  I  told  them  that  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  remain,  but  that  my  uncle,  William  Jones, 
would  direct  their  labor,  and  to  this  they  cheer- 
fully consented.  One  by  one  they  then  came 
forward  and  shook  hands  with  me  and  with 
many  expressions  of  kindness  and  affection 
bade  me  good-by.  It  was  impossible  to  doubt 
the  faithfulness  of  the  negroes  generally.  At 
least  a  hundred  knew  of  my  hiding-place  in  the 

195 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

swamp  near  rny  sister's  house,  but  none  betrayed 
me. 

About  four  o'clock  we  left  Halifax  for  Wal- 
thourville.  My  sister  went  out  with  the 
wagons;  but  she  had  so  much  baggage  that  it 
was  impossible  to  take  it  all,  so  with  the  help  of 
one  of  the  negroes  I  attempted  to  take  out  four 
large  trunks  by  means  of  an  old  cart  and  the 
broken-down  Yankee  horse  previously  men- 
tioned. About  sunset  our  troubles  began,  for 
the  cart  stalled  so  often  in  the  thick  blue  mud  of 
the  causeway  that  we  were  three  full  hours  in 
going  half  a  mile.  Half  a  dozen  times  Henry 
and  I  had  to  carry  the  heavy  trunks,  two  of 
which  weighed  over  three  hundred  pounds 
apiece,  to  firmer  ground  before  we  could  draw 
the  cart  from  the  mud.  The  old  horse  was  so 
strained  as  to  be  unfit  for  service  and  a  mile 
from  Walthourville  absolutely  refused  to  go 
farther.  We  were  obliged,  therefore,  to  pass 
the  night  in  a  negro  cabin  by  the  roadside. 

As  it  seemed  impossible  that  the  old  horse 
could  take  us  to  Doctortown,  I  left  the  cart  in 
the  care  of  Henry  and  went  ahead  to  get  a  good 
strong  mule.  Hearing  of  a  ferry  across  the 
Backswamp,  I  went  to  it  to  avoid  wading  again, 
and  after  some  delay  got  a  place  as  passenger 

196 


IN   TIME    OF   WAE 

in  a  small  canoe  with  a  cask  of  molasses  as 
freight  and  a  negro  as  engineer.  But  as  the 
negro  stepped  in  he  tilted  the  canoe  a  little  and 
the  cask,  not  being  properly  secured,  rolled  to 
one  side.  In  an  instant  the  whole  contents  of 
the  canoe,  human  and  saccharine,  were  spilt 
into  the  water.  As  it  would  take  some  time  to 
raise  and  bail  the  canoe  and  as  I  was  thor- 
oughly wet  already,  I  decided  to  wade  across, 
went  to  the  trestle,  and  in  pitch  darkness 
plunged  half  a  mile  through  water  waist-deep. 

Having  selected  from  the  sorry  lot  at  Doctor- 
town  a  mule  that  proved  to  be  more  trouble 
than  he  was  worth,  I  started  next  morning 
to  return  for  the  cart.  At  the  Backs wamp  my 
trouble  began.  Finding  a  cart  going  across,  I 
sat  in  the  back  and  endeavored  to  lead  the  mule 
over.  The  horse  in  the  cart  plunged  along 
rapidly  and  unequally;  the  mule  was  unwilling 
to  lead,  I  was  unwilling  to  let  go,  the  rope  was 
unwilling  to  break:  the  result  of  this  concate- 
nation of  unwillingness  was  that  I  was  pulled 
out  of  the  cart  into  water  nearly  up  to  my  neck ! 
Arrived  at  the  other  side,  we  proceeded  to  the 
railroad.  Now  /  preferred  going  along  the 
track ;  but  the  mule  had  a  different  opinion,  and, 
after  some  vigorous  argument  to  no  effect,  rea- 

197 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

son  was  obliged  to  yield  to  obstinacy  and  we 
took  the  wagon  road,  though  it  was  nearly  twice 
as  long.  The  result  was  that  we  reached  Henry 
and  the  trunks  too  late  to  return  to  Doctortown 
that  day. 

The  old  horse  was  so  rested  by  the  next 
morning  that  I  determined  to  use  him  in  the 
cart  after  all  and  to  ride  the  mule.  All  went 
well  until  we  reached  the  fatal  Backswamp. 
"We  carried  the  trunks  over  one  by  one  in  the 
canoe;  then  Henry  drove  over  the  empty  cart 
while  I  swam  the  mule  behind  the  canoe.  But 
within  ten  steps  of  the  farther  side  the  old 
horse  stumbled  and  fell  and  would  inevitably 
have  drowned  had  not  Henry  and  I  leaped  into 
the  water  and  released  him  from  the  cart.  By 
nightfall,  however,  we  had  the  trunks  under  a 
shed  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  ferry, 
and  I  went  on  to  Doctortown  to  sleep. 

On  returning  to  the  shed  next  morning  I 
found  there  Colonel  Hood,  who  had  had  charge 
of  the  wagons  that  were  bringing  the  ladies  out. 
He  said  that  they  were  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Backswamp,  and  as  the  rain  was  falling  in  tor- 
rents, he  transferred  the  task  of  getting  them 
across  to  me  with  evident  pleasure.  To  get  the 
entire  party  over  I  had  to  make  the  trip  by 

198 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

canoe  nine  or  ten  times  in  the  blinding  rain  and 
against  a  swift  current,  but  by  one  o'clock  all 
were  safe  in  Doctortown. 

But  my  troubles  were  not  yet  at  an  end,  for 
the  baggage  had  to  be  transferred  from  the 
shed  to  the  camp.  Having  got  most  of  it  to  the 
Altamaha  bridge  by  noon  next  day,  a  friend  and 
I  endeavored  to  take  all  that  was  left  across  the 
lake  in  a  single  boat-load.  All  went  well  and 
we  decided  to  pole  along  the  upper  side  of  the 
embankment  to  the  bridge.  But  the  great  flood 
of  water  that  ran  with  fury  through  the  trestles 
made  the  passage  by  them  with  our  heavily-laden 
boat  really  dangerous.  The  first  trestle  we 
passed  with  great  difficulty,  breaking  two  oars 
and  narrowly  escaping  being  swept  through; 
but  no  human  power  could  withstand  the  fury 
of  the  torrent  rushing  through  the  next.  We 
were  dashed  violently  against  the  uprights,  car- 
ried through,  and  whirled  around  with  a  velocity 
that  in  spite  of  our  efforts  took  us  into  the 
swampy  woods  on  the  lower  side  with  great  risk 
of  overturning  or  smashing  the  boat.  To  pro- 
ceed on  our  way  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  re- 
turn through  the  trestle.     But  how? 

Landing  on  the  embankment  I  ran  back  to 
where  I  had  seen  a  canoe,  stripped  a  hundred 

199 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

feet  or  so  of  broken  telegraph  wire  from  the 
poles  standing  in  the  water,  and  paddled  back 
to  the  boat.  We  then  fastened  the  wire  to  the 
bow  and  with  five  negroes  on  shore  hauling  on 
it  and  my  companion  and  I  sometimes  rowing, 
sometimes  pushing  on  the  piers  of  the  trestle, 
succeeded  after  half  an  hour's  severe  struggle 
in  forcing  the  boat  through  the  trestle  against  a 
roaring  torrent  that  rose  almost  to  the  gunwale 
and  threatened  every  moment  to  swamp  us. 
Having  rounded  the  point,  we  were  in  compara- 
tively smooth  water,  and  soon  had  the  last  piece 
of  baggage  at  the  bridge,  whence  it  was  con- 
veyed to  Doctortown  in  a  box-car  that  I  had 
chartered. 

From  Doctortown  we  went  without  difficulty 
by  rail  to  Thomas ville,  but  there  our  troubles 
began  again.  It  took  me  two  days  to  secure  a 
couple  of  wagons  to  carry  us  to  Albany,  and 
for  the  sixty-mile  trip  I  had  to  pay  four  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  roads  were  in  such  dread- 
ful condition  that  we  were  four  days  on  the 
way.  We  were  obliged  to  camp  out  one  night, 
and  as  it  was  intensely  cold  and  very  windy 
suffered  severely  on  the  trip.  On  the  thirtieth 
of  January,  having  journeyed  from  Albany 
by  rail,  we  reached  Macon,  and  found  the  rest 

200 


IN   TIME    OF   WAR 

of  our  party  safe  at  the  home  of  one  of  my 
nieces. 

After  a  day  spent  in  resting  and  visiting 
friends,  we  started  for  Milledgeville.  "We  were 
delayed  by  our  baggage  and  reached  the  station 
just  as  the  cars  were  moving  off.  A  young  man 
in  Confederate  gray,  seeing  our  predicament, 
ran  to  the  conductor,  stopped  the  train,  and 
helped  the  ladies  on,  while  I  attended  to  the  bag- 
gage. A  mile  and  a  half  from  Milledgeville  we 
had  to  alight,  as  the  rails  beyond  that  had  been 
torn  up  by  Sherman.  Here  there  was  a  perfect 
Babel,  travelers  being  anxious  to  proceed  and 
wagoners  taking  advantage  of  their  necessities 
to  practise  extortion.  I  found  the  prices 
charged  too  exorbitant  for  my  dwindling  purse 
and  was  in  a  quandary  when  the  same  young 
soldier  again  came  to  our  relief  and  quickly  en- 
gaged two  wagons  at  half  the  price  that  had 
been  asked  me.  Henceforward  he  was  regu- 
larly installed  as  a  member  of  our  party. 

He  was  a  rather  good-looking  young  fellow, 
bright,  quick,  and  efficient,  but  quiet  and  unob- 
trusive. Though  but  twenty,  according  to  his 
own  statement,  he  had  evidently  seen  much  of 
the  world,  and  pretended  to  be  a  great  reader 
of  character.    Ready-witted,  keenly  observant, 

201 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  apparently  open  and  frank,  there  was,  how- 
ever, something  mysterious  about  him,  and  he 
both  attracted  and  repelled.  He  knew  all  the 
officers  of  the  army  that  we  met  and  they  all 
knew  him.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  minut- 
est details  concerning  our  army,  but  seemed  no 
less  conversant  with  Sherman's.  My  sister 
thought  him  a  Yankee  spy,  but  he  himself  said 
he  was  a  Confederate,  a  member  of  Lewis's  Ken- 
tucky brigade,  who  had  fought  the  Yankees  all 
through  Georgia  with  Wheeler.  He  called  him- 
self Davis,  but  promised  some  time  to  tell  us  his 
real  name.  Whatever  he  was,  he  had  evidently 
taken  a  great  liking  to  our  party  and  was  very 
kind  and  efficient,  beguiling  the  tedium  of  the 
ride  to  Mayfield  with  incessant,  bright  conver- 
sation. He  told  the  most  awful  stories  of  his 
adventures,  but  seemed  capable  of  doing  all  that 
he  related.  As  we  parted  from  him  at  Augusta, 
he  said,  "  I  shall  soon  see  you  again  in  Colum- 
bia. The  Yankees  are  certainly  going  there, 
and  I  shall  be  wherever  they  are." 

From  Augusta  we  had  intended  going  to 
Columbia  by  rail,  but  alas!  Sherman  was 
ahead  of  me  again,  and  all  of  the  cars  had  been 
impressed  to  carry  Stovall's  brigade  to  the 
scene    of    an    expected   battle.    Fortunately    I 

202 


IN  TIME  OF  WAR 

found  in  town  Professor  Holmes,  the  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Niter  and  Mining  Bureau,  with 
which  I  was  connected,  and  he,  having  arranged 
to  have  our  baggage  forwarded  by  government 
wagons,  drove  us  to  Edgefield,  his  home,  and 
thence,  after  hospitably;  entertaining  us,  to 
Columbia. 


203 


CHAPTER   VIII 

A   FUGITIVE   BEFORE   SHERMAN'S   ARMY 

At  last,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  two 
months,  I  again  reached  home.  But  the  inde- 
fatigable Sherman  was  close  by,  and  I  knew  not 
how  soon  I  might  be  compelled  to  run.  The 
next  week  was  an  anxious  one  for  all  of  us,  and 
its  memory  is  burned  into  my  brain.  The 
enemy,  swearing  vengeance  against  South 
Carolina,  the  cradle  of  secession,  approached 
step  by  step;  consternation  and  panic  flight  of 
women  and  children  in  front  and  a  blackened 
ruin  behind.  Three  days  after  my  return  I  re- 
ceived orders  from  Richmond  to  remove  the 
chemical  laboratory  to  that  place,  and  after  sev- 
eral days'  hard  work  packing  shipped  the  boxes 
by  rail  on  the  fifteenth  of  February.  The  depot 
was  crowded  with  people  trying  to  get  away, 
women  and  children  pleading  to  be  taken  aboard 
the  cars.  The  panic  was  really  frightful,  but 
still  I  strove  to  remain  calm,  for,  though  both 

204 


FUGITIVE  BEFOEE  SHERMAN'S  AEMY 

our  first  and  second  lines  of  defense  had  been 
carried  and  the  booming  of  the  enemy's  guns 
sounded  ever  nearer  and  nearer,  the  authorities 
confidently  said  there  was  no  real  danger — Har- 
dee's army  corps  would  surely  come  in  time. 
But  on  my  way  home  that  night  I  met  a  wagon- 
train  fully  half  a  mile  long,  rumbling  slowly 
and  softly  through  the  silent  and  deserted 
streets  toward  the  Charlotte  depot,  as  if  steal- 
ing away  in  the  dark.  It  was  evidently  an  army- 
train,  and  the  solemn  rumbling  as  it  dragged  its 
slow  length  along  smote  painfully  on  my  heart. 
For  the  first  time  my  hopes  utterly  gave  way, 
and  I  thought,  Columbia  is  doomed ! 

On  reaching  home  I  found  Mr.  Davis,  true 
to  his  promise,  anxiously  awaiting  me.  He 
urged  me  to  flee  at  once,  as  the  Yankees  might 
be  in  the  city  on  the  morrow,  asserting  that  he 
had  been  in  their  camp  all  day  and  knew  all 
their  plans.  On  being  asked  what  he  thought 
would  be  the  fate  of  the  city  if  it  fell  into  their 
hands,  he  said  that  he  feared  to  tell  us  what  he 
knew  would  take  place,  but  that  he  thought  that 
he  could  save  my  house  and  my  brother's.  He 
claimed  to  have  great  influence  with  Yankee  offi- 
cers by  means  of  bribery  and  offered  to  give  me 
letters  to  Yankee  colonels,  to  be  used  if  neces- 

205 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

sary ;  but  I  declined  his  offer,  as  I  did  not  wish 
to  be  connected  with  any  tortuous  policy. 
"  You  must  not  be  surprised,"  he  said,  "  in  case 
any  Yankees  enter  your  house  to  see  me  among 
them.     If  you  recognize  me,  don't  betray  me." 

Full  of  these  sad  tidings,  I  went  to  see  my 
brother  John,  and  found  him  and  Captain  Ash- 
bell  Green  consulting  about  leaving  at  once. 
The  military  authorities  had  at  last  confessed 
that  they  could  not  hold  Columbia,  and  had  ad- 
vised them  to  save  what  Niter  Bureau  stores 
they  could.  We  decided  to  go  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble. By  Mr.  Davis's  advice  we  packed  all  our 
valuables,  manuscripts,  lecture-notes,  etc.,  and 
sent  them  to  the  Niter  Bureau  to  go  out  with 
the  stores,  and  then  took  a  sad,  heart-breaking 
leave  of  our  families,  commending  them  to  the 
tender  mercy  of  God,  our  common  Father. 

That  was  the  saddest  night  of  my  life.  Our 
imperative  duty  was  to  save,  if  possible,  the 
government  property  in  our  care,  and  it  would 
have  been  worse  than  useless  for  us  to  have  re- 
mained, for  as  we  were  all  officers,  we  should 
certainly  have  been  taken  prisoners.  And  yet 
it  was  hard  to  leave  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
all  that  we  loved  most  tenderly.  I  worked  all 
night  packing,  the  ominous  words  of  Mr.  Davis, 

206 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

"  I  fear  to  tell  yon  what  scenes  will  be  enacted 
in  Columbia,"  ringing  in  my  ears,  and  the  sol- 
emn booming  of  Sherman's  gnns  giving  them 
fearful  meaning  and  emphasis. 

About  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  six- 
teenth we  started,  Captain  Green,  John,  his  son 
Johnny,  and  I,  with  twenty-two  negroes,  includ- 
ing the  wives  and  children  of  those  who  had 
been  working  on  the  niter  plantation,  a  sad  en- 
cumbrance. "We  had  two  wagons,  two  carts,  and 
a  buggy,  all  heavily  loaded.  Our  intention  was 
to  go  to  Allston,  but  owing  to  our  taking  the 
wrong  road  and  stalling  in  the  thick  mud,  we 
made  camp  the  first  night  not  more  than  ten 
miles  in  a  direct  line  from  Columbia. 

About  three  o'clock  the  next  morning  we 
were  awakened  by  a  terrific  explosion  that  shook 
the  ground  like  an  earthquake.  We  were  in 
great  anxiety  to  know  what  it  meant  and  Mr. 
Davis's  words  haunted  my  memory.  Later  we 
learned  that  a  large  quantity  of  powder  in  the 
Charleston  depot  had  been  ignited  by  the  care- 
less use  of  lights  by  a  band  of  plunderers,  many 
of  whom  were  killed  by  the  explosion. 

By  sunrise  we  were  on  our  way  again.  On 
coming  into  the  direct  road  to  Allston  we  found 
it    full    of    fugitives    from    Columbia,    panic- 

207 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

stricken,  wayworn,  and  travel-stained,  but  still 
hurrying  on.  From  them  we  learned  that  after 
traveling  a  day  and  a  half  we  were  but  twelve 
or  thirteen  miles  from  the  city.  We  stopped 
for  the  night  at  a  deserted  house  by  the  way- 
side, and  about  ten  o'clock,  with  an  ejaculated 
prayer  for  the  loved  ones  at  home,  I  threw  my- 
self on  a  pile  of  fodder  and  was  soon  asleep. 
Alas !  alas !  while  we  thus  slept  in  peace  Colum- 
bia was  wrapped  in  flames.  Had  we  glanced  in 
that  direction  we  should  have  seen  the  ruddy 
glare  and  slept  no  more  that  night. 

The  next  morning  we  continued  creeping 
along  the  awful  roads  at  the  rate  of  about  two 
miles  an  hour.  I  was  walking  ahead,  of  the 
wagons,  enjoying  the  glorious  morning,  when 
suddenly  a  country  woman  ran  from  a  cabin  a 
hundred  yards  from  the  road  and  called  to  me 
to  stop. 

"Where  are  you  going? "  she  asked. 

"To  Allston." 

"  To  Allston !  Don't  you  know  the  Yankees 
are  crossing  the  Broad  River  not  a  mile  from 
here?" 

"  Impossible !  We  met  Wheeler's  men  not 
more  than  a  mile  or  two  back  and  they  as- 
sured us  there  were  no  Yankees  ahead.    They 

208 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

ought  to  know,  for  they  were  sent  here  to  watch 
them." 

"  Wheeler's  men !  "  she  retorted  contemptu- 
ously; "don't  you  see  that  smoke  yonder?  and 
that  there!  And  yonder!  And  again  yon- 
der!" 

I  looked  as  she  pointed  and  to  my  utter  dis- 
may realized  that  we  were  indeed  in  the  midst 
of  the  enemy,  whom  we  thought  so  far  away. 
"We  at  once  determined  to  turn  into  the  woods 
and  remain  hidden  until  they  had  passed  by. 
The  chance  of  escape  was  small,  but  to  go  on  or 
to  turn  back  was  certain  capture.  Having  taken 
down  the  fence,  therefore,  we  drove  the  wagons 
deep  into  the  forest  and  concealed  them  in  a  lit- 
tle grove  of  saplings,  replaced  the  fence,  and 
carefully  erased  the  wagon  tracks  from  the  road 
to  the  wood.  After  we  had  made  a  camp  in 
a  little  hollow  through  which  ran  a  stream,  Cap- 
tain Green  and  I  returned  to  the  road  to  observe 
the  enemy.  We  soon  saw  seven  Yankee  soldiers 
approach  a  house  on  the  main  road,  about  three 
hundred  yards  from  where  we  were  concealed, 
and  erelong  heard  the  popping  of  Yankee  guns 
and  the  squealing  of  Confederate  pigs  and  the 
squawking  of  rebel  chickens.  About  eleven  a 
dense  column  of  smoke  arose  from  another 
15  209 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

house  not  over  a  hundred  yards  from  us.  A 
few  minutes  later  several  companies  passed  on 
the  road  within  twenty  yards  of  us  and  turned 
up  a  branch  road  that  skirted  the  wood,  and 
soon  two  columns  of  smoke  to  the  northward 
told  that  two  more  houses  had  been  fired.  As 
other  companies  continued  to  pass  on  the  main 
road,  our  position  was  becoming  dangerous,  so 
I  returned  to  camp  and  reported  to  John  what  I 
had  seen.  I  then  crept  on  hands  and  knees 
toward  the  houses  burning  on  the  north.  The 
hum  of  many  voices  approaching  caused  me  to 
lie  very  close,  and  within  thirty  steps  of  me 
passed  two  companies  of  soldiers  leading  half 
a  dozen  horses  and  mules  from  the  burning 
stables. 

Though  I  prowled  around  during  the  after- 
noon I  saw  no  Yankees,  and  we  began  to  hope 
that  they  had  passed  on.  About  sunset,  how- 
ever, they  began  to  return  and  soon  after  dark 
we  saw  their  fires  on  the  Broad  River,  about  a 
mile  away,  and  heard  the  rolling  of  their  drums 
and  the  cheering  as  party  after  party  returned 
laden  with  booty ;  and  knew  that  their  camp  had 
not  been  moved.  We  had  been  too  anxious  to 
think  about  eating,  but  as  the  negro  children 
were  clamorous  for  food,  we  consented  with 

210 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE   SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

many  misgivings  to  the  making  of  a  fire  for 
cooking.  We  concealed  it  as  much  as  possible, 
but  the  reflection  on  the  tree-tops  was  fearfully 
distinct,  so  we  extinguished  it  as  soon  as  we 
could  and  went  quietly  to  bed. 

We  were  in  fine  spirits  next  morning,  for  we 
erroneously  thought  that  we  had  escaped  dis- 
covery. Just  after  breakfast  we  heard  the 
measured  tramp,  tramp  of  inarching  troops, 
and  saw  a  regiment  pass  along  the  road  within 
a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  us.  We  drew  a 
long  breath  when  they  were  fairly  by.  But  a 
few  moments  later  a  sharp  cry  of  "  Look  out !  " 
broke  the  stillness  of  the  early  morning  air. 
Recognizing  the  voice  of  Captain  Green,  who 
was  doing  picket  duty  while  we  breakfasted,  I 
immediately  ran  to  the  wagons  where  I  had 
carelessly  left  my  pistol  and  a  valise  containing 
money,  jewelry,  railroad  bonds,  manuscripts, 
and  other  valuables.  But  alas !  when  I  reached 
one  wagon  I  saw  the  Yankees  already  swarm- 
ing upon  and  pillaging  the  other.  I  was  within 
ten  steps  of  them  before  I  saw  them  and  had  no 
time  to  save  anything.  I  dropped  to  my  hands 
and  knees,  crept  into  the  thicket,  and  at  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty  yards  watched  them  knock  to 
pieces  trunks  and  boxes  and  rifle  their  contents. 

211 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

As  some  were  scattering  about,  evidently 
searching  for  hiding  Confederates,  I  gradually 
shifted  my  position,  and  finally  concealed  my- 
self in  a  clump  of  saplings  on  the  other  side  of 
the  by-road.  Here  I  lay  listening  to  the  work 
of  destruction  for  more  than  an  hour. 

The  clump  of  saplings  was,  however,  so 
small  and  so  near  the  road,  along  which  the 
enemy  was  passing  continually,  that  I  was  in 
imminent  danger  of  discovery.  Once  indeed  a 
tall  Yankee  (he  seemed  to  me  enormously  tall!) 
came  straight  toward  me,  but  he  stopped  when 
but  six  feet  away,  laid  down  his  gun,  adjusted 
his  haversack  and  canteen,  and  passed  on.  I  de- 
termined, if  possible,  to  recross  the  road  and 
regain  the  main  wood,  and  after  several  futile 
attempts  succeeded  about  noon  in  doing  so.  I 
crept  cautiously  toward  the  wagons  to  learn  the 
fate  of  the  others  and  to  save  my  manuscripts 
if  possible;  but  when  about  thirty  yards  from 
camp  was  brought  to  a  halt  by  the  voices  of 
Yankees  and  negroes,  the  latter  raised  in  ex- 
postulation. Cautiously  creeping  nearer  I  saw 
the  soldiers,  evidently  a  second  party,  pile  the 
trunks  and  boxes  on  the  wagons,  set  fire  to  them, 
and  watch  them  burn  to  ashes.  Then  they  be- 
gan to  search  the  woods  and  I  again  had  to  fly 

212 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

and  seek  concealment.  Bat  my  extreme  anxiety 
concerning  my  brother  and  nephew  made  it  im- 
possible for  me  to  keep  quiet,  and  several  times 
during  the  afternoon  I  crept  down  to  camp. 
But  each  time  I  found  Yankees  there  and  had 
to  retreat.  My  anxiety  became  insupportable. 
May  I  never  again  pass  such  a  day  of  agony! 

After  dark,  seeing  the  camp-fire  burning,  I 
determined  at  any  risk  to  make  another  attempt. 
This  time  there  was  no  one  there  but  the 
negroes,  who  seemed  unfeignedly  glad  to  see 
me  safe.  John,  they  said,  had  given  himself  up 
to  the  enemy,  apparently  recognizing  the  fu- 
tility of  trying  to  escape  with  his  son,  who  was 
just  convalescing  from  a  serious  illness.  Cap- 
tain Green  they  believed  to  be  still  in  hiding  in 
the  woods.  Party  after  party  had  been  search- 
ing for  us,  for  they  knew  that  two  of  us  had 
escaped  and  even  mentioned  our  names.  After 
eating  some  food  and  warming  myself,  I  retired 
from  the  bright  light  of  the  fire,  and  a  little  later 
word  was  brought  to  me  that  Captain  Green  had 
come  to  the  camp.  I  immediately  went  forward 
and  in  a  moment  was  clasping  his  hand.  The 
poor  fellow  was  very  much  exhausted,  having 
had  almost  no  sleep  the  previous  night  and 
nothing  to  eat  since  supper  the  previous  day. 

213 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

He  had  lain  hidden  all  day  in  the  clump  of  sap- 
lings across  the  road  in  which  I  myself  had 
sought  shelter,  and  had  narrowly  escaped  cap- 
ture. Once  indeed  a  party  of  Yankees  sat  on 
the  trunk  of  the  very  fallen  tree  among  whose 
dead  branches  he  was  hiding,  and  chatted  for 
some  time.  From  their  conversation  he  learned 
that  a  negro  had  discovered  our  camp-fire  the 
night  before  and  betrayed  us  to  the  enemy  in 
the  morning. 

While  we  were  talking,  one  of  our  pickets 
came  running  in  to  say  that  some  men  were 
coming.  They  proved  to  be  some  of  our 
negroes  that  the  Yankees  had  taken  with  them 
to  ride  our  mules  and  who  had  escaped  from 
their  captors.  They  said  that  John  and  Johnny 
had  been  forced  to  walk  to  Allston,  six  miles 
away,  but  had  not  been  harshly  treated.  John's 
watch  had  been  taken  from  him,  but  was  re- 
stored by  the  captain  at  Allston  to  whom  he  re- 
ported the  theft. 

The  Yankees  had  told  the  negroes  that  they 
would  capture  Captain  Green  and  me  next  day, 
if  they  had  to  beat  every  bush,  which,  as  the 
little  wood  was  not  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
square,  they  could  easily  have  done.  We  de- 
cided, therefore,  to  escape  in  the  night,    I  paid 

214 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

one  of  my  negroes  twenty  dollars  to  carry  my 
boys  and  John's  back  home  and  the  leader  of 
the  Niter  Bureau  negroes  a  hundred  dollars  to 
see  that  those  belonging  to  the  Bureau  were  re- 
turned safe,  shook  each  heartily  by  the  hand, 
and  bade  them  good-by.  "  Take  care  of  your- 
self, my  dear  Massah,"  "  Good-by,  Massah, 
and  God  bless  you!  "  "  I  hope  de  Lord  will  keep 
you  from  dem  Yankees,  dear  Massah !  " — such 
were  the  parting  words  that  greeted  me  on  every 
side  as  we  moved  off.  Were  they  sincere?  I 
thought  so  then,  and  was  really  deeply  moved 
by  their  kindness.  I  believe  so  still,  though  I 
now  know  that  they  were  anxious  for  us  to  go 
not  only  to  secure  our  safety  but  also,  and  per- 
haps chiefly,  because  they  had  some  of  our  prop- 
erty which  they  had  begged  from  the  Yankees 
and  did  not  wish  to  restore.  Of  such  mixed 
stuff  is  human  nature — especially  negro  nature 
— woven ! 

We  left  the  camp  about  nine  o'clock  and 
walked  rapidly  and  silently  toward  Columbia. 
Having  heard  that  the  Little  River  bridge  had 
been  burned,  we  planned  to  cross  the  river  that 
night  and  wait  on  the  other  side  in  comparative 
safety  until  we  knew  that  all  the  Yankees  had 
left  Columbia.     When  within  half  a  mile  of  the 

215 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

bridge  we  heard  light  footsteps  close  behind  us 
and  turning  saw  a  well-dressed,  intelligent 
young  negro  almost  treading  on  our  heels.  He 
said  he  was  on  his  way  home,  and  pointed 
toward  a  brilliantly  lighted  house  some  two  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  road,  in  which  he  said  there 
was  nobody  but  "  colored  folks."  The  Yankees, 
he  further  told  us,  had  been  very  troublesome 
during  the  day  and  he  feared  would  return  dur- 
ing the  night.  We  deeply  suspected  that  he 
would  inform  on  us,  but  had  no  idea  that  at  that 
very  time  a  number  of  Yankees  were  quartered 
in  that  very  house. 

We  had  got  but  half-way  to  the  river,  how- 
ever, and  were  just  entering  on  an  embankment 
that  formed  an  abutment  to  the  bridge  when  we 
heard  the  clatter  of  the  hoofs  of  horses  gallop- 
ing from  the  house  of  the  "  colored  folks."  In 
an  instant  we  were  over  the  zigzag  fence  that 
bordered  the  road  and  each  squatted  in  a  corner. 
We  were  hardly  fairly  settled  when  twenty 
Yankee  cavalrymen  dashed  by  so  close  to  the 
fence  that  their  horses'  heels  struck  the  very 
rails  behind  which  we  were  lying.  Soon  we 
heard  them  returning,  after  having  satisfied 
themselves  that  we  were  not  on  the  embank- 
ment.   Instead  of  passing  by  again,  as  we  had 

216 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

hoped  they  would  do,  they  reined  up  and  dis- 
mounted close  to  us.  "  Now,"  thought  I,  "  we 
are  lost,  for  they  are  going  to  search  the  fence !  " 
Instead  they  simply  leaned  against  it  and  rested, 
so  near  to  us  that  I  could  have  grasped  one  fel- 
low by  the  leg.  Bat  I  didn't!  On  the  contrary 
I  moved  not  a  muscle  and  hardly  breathed. 

After  chatting  for  half  an  hour  about  bush- 
whackers and  fugitive  Confederates,  even  men- 
tioning our  names,  they  remounted.  "  Let's  try 
this  way,"  said  one ;  and  they  galloped  in  the  di- 
rection from  which  we  had  come,  probably  con- 
cluding that  we  had  suspected  the  negro  and 
turned  back  on  our  tracks,  the  very  thing  we 
should  have  done  had  we  suspected  their  pres- 
ence in  the  house.  I  learned  later  that  about 
midnight  they  visited  the  camp  that  we  had  left. 

When  the  sound  of  the  retreating  hoof-beats 
had  entirely  ceased,  we  made  our  way  through 
the  plowed  fields  to  the  river.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  cross  without  more  light,  so  we  had  to 
wait  for  the  rising  of  the  moon  at  about  four  in 
the  morning.  The  night  had  grown  very  cold, 
so  for  hours  I  paced  up  and  down,  stamping, 
swinging  my  arms,  and  striking  my  chest,  while 
Captain  Green  sat  on  a  log  in  complete  exhaus- 
tion, his  head  sinking  lower  and  lower  on  his 

217 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

knees.  Suddenly  I  heard  an  agonizing  cry.  I 
turned  quickly,  but  Captain  Green  had  disap- 
peared as  if  the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed 
hhn !  Running  to  the  spot  where  he  had  been, 
I  found  that  in  his  sleep  he  had  plunged  for- 
ward, and  awakened  standing  on  his  head  in  a 
drainage  ditch  six  feet  deep.  Fortunately  he 
was  not  much  hurt  and  for  some  time  I  could 
not  help  him  out  for  laughter.  Afraid  to  trust 
himself  again  in  a  sitting  posture,  he  went  stag- 
gering about  trying  to  keep  awake.  But  in 
vain.  He  fell  asleep  while  walking  and  awoke 
to  find  himself  in  the  ditch  again.  The  fact  is 
that  the  poor  man,  naturally  feeble  at  best,  was 
so  prostrated  by  want  of  food  and  rest  and  by 
the  constant  excitement  of  mind  and  exposure 
to  the  cold  that  he  could  scarcely  stand. 

After  the  moon  had  risen  we  easily  waded 
the  river,  which  we  found  not  more  than  knee- 
deep,  and  with  great  difficulty  scrambled  up  the 
steep  bank  on  the  other  side.  Even  on  the  level 
road  Captain  Green  could  not  walk  over  three 
hundred  yards  without  stopping  to  rest,  and  ere- 
long he  collapsed  entirely.  As  I  feared  that  he 
would  be  seriously  ill,  I  determined  to  apply  at 
the  nearest  farmhouse  for  restoratives,  and 
leaving  him  by  the  roadside  ran  to  a  house  about 

218 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

half  a  mile  away.  After  some  delay  a  woman 
came  to  the  door  in  answer  to  my  calls.  Her 
expression  was  one  of  extreme  fear.  That 
ghastly,  terror-stricken  face  staring  at  me  in  the 
cold  gray  dawn  will  haunt  me  forever !  I  made 
known  my  errand,  and  she  and  her  husband, 
who  had  fled  through  the  back  door  on  my  ap- 
proach, kindly  offered  to  do  anything  they 
could  for  the  captain.  A  few  Yankees  had 
visited  the  house  the  day  before,  she  said,  and 
had  promised  that  this  day  they  would  return 
in  force  and  "  clean  her  out."  They  were  ex- 
pecting them  every  moment  and  had  taken  me 
for  an  advanced  guard. 

I  quickly  returned  for  the  captain,  but  did 
not  find  him  where  I  had  left  him.  Realizing 
what  had  happened  I  hastened  up  the  road  and 
found,  as  I  had  expected,  that  having  regained 
his  strength  he  had  followed  me,  but  instead  of 
turning  up  the  lane  to  the  farmhouse  had  kept 
on  the  main  road.  As  I  overtook  him  just  as 
he  was  approaching  another  house,  we  told  our 
story  there  and  were  hospitably  received. 

A  warm  breakfast,  a  cup  of  hot  rye-coffee, 
and  a  blazing  fire  quickly  and  completely  re- 
stored Captain  Green.  He  sat  before  the  fire 
in  a  most  blissful  state  of  mind,  his  lank  legs 

219 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

helplessly  crossed,  his  head,  peacefully  resting 
on  the  top  of  his  chair,  enveloped,  as  in  a  halo  of 
glory,  in  a  cloud  of  smoke,  a  gauzy,  but  strong 
veil  woven  by  the  magician  Tobacco.  It  seemed 
a  pity  rudely  to  bring  his  soul  back  from  the 
Heaven  of  Narcotism,  tenanted  only  by  good 
angels  of  peaceful  and  innocent  thoughts,  to  a 
dull  earth  overrun  by  vile  Yankees,  but  alas !  it 
had  to  be  done. 

Soon  after  sunrise  we  started  for  a  hiding- 
place.  We  selected  a  thick  clump  of  pine  sap- 
lings half  a  mile  from  the  house,  and  had  hardly 
seated  ourselves  before  the  popping  of  guns  and 
the  columns  of  smoke  from  burning  homesteads 
told  that  the  enemy  had  begun  their  daily  work. 
As  we  were  far  from  any  house,  we  soon  became 
indifferent,  however,  and  took  turns  at  sleeping 
and  watching. 

As  evening  approached  the  shooting  ceased, 
and,  as  it  was  very  cold,  we  determined  to 
spend  the  night  at  one  of  the  fires  that  we  saw 
blazing  in  every  direction,  and  chose  a  burning 
fence  in  a  spot  where  we  would  be  partly  shel- 
tered from  observation,  near  the  ruins  of  a 
cabin  behind  which  we  could  fly  in  case  of  dan- 
ger. We  had  just  finished  a  supper  of  pork 
that  was  nearly  all  fat  and  corn  bread  as  dry  as 

220 


FUGITIVE  BEFOEE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

sawdust,  when  we  heard  footsteps  cautiously 
approaching.  The  newcomer  proved  to  be  the 
owner  of  the  fence,  and  I  recognized  him  as  the 
man  that  I  had  frightened  from  his  house  early 
in  the  morning.  After  tearing  down  two  or 
three  panels  of  the  fence  so  as  to  isolate  the  fire, 
in  which  work  we  helped  him,  he  went  to  his 
home,  which,  as  he  had  been  in  the  woods  try- 
ing to  save  his  horses  and  mules,  he  had  not 
visited  during  the  day.  In  an  hour  or  so  he  re- 
turned with  a  pot  of  rye- coffee,  a  lot  of  bis- 
cuits, and  about  a  peck  of  sweet  potatoes.  The 
captain  and  I  sat  by  the  fire  and  roasted  pota- 
toes all  night. 

Early  in  the  morning  we  sought  a  new  hid- 
ing-place, for  it  was  our  policy  never  to  use  the 
same  place  twice,  as  we  might  be  observed  and 
betrayed  by  some  prowling  negro.  The  sun 
was  well  up  before  we  found  a  suitable  place  and 
we  flitted  from  bush  to  bush  and  from  gully  to 
fence  like  belated  specters.  At  last  in  our 
fearful  rambles  we  came  to  the  main  road  to  Co- 
lumbia, but  did  not  recognize  it.  Observing  a 
party  of  negroes,  men,  women,  and  children, 
approaching,  we  waited  for  them  to  pass  before 
venturing  to  cross  the  road.  To  our  vexation 
immediately  after  we  had  observed  them  they 

221 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

set  down  the  large  bundles  that  they  were  carry- 
ing on  their  heads,  and  rested  for  about  half  an 
hour.  I  did  not  dream  that  they  were,  as  I 
afterward  learned,  our  own  negroes  on  their 
way  home,  or  I  should  have  sent  a  message  to 
my  family.  When  they  had  passed  we  crossed 
the  road  and  about  ten  o'clock  found  a  place  of 
concealment  in  a  thicket  that  crowned  a  hill. 

After  a  day  passed  much  as  the  previous  one 
had  been,  we  cautiously  approached  the  house 
of  our  new  friend,  whose  name  we  had  learned 
was  Leitner,  to  get  a  fresh  supply  of  provi- 
sions. We  were  received  with  unaffected  kind- 
ness, given  an  excellent  supper,  and  cordially 
invited  to  stay  at  the  house  all  night.  As  the 
Yankees  had  apparently  gone  on  to  Winnsboro, 
after  some  hesitation,  because  we  feared  we 
might  bring  trouble  on  our  kind  friends,  we  ac- 
cepted. 

By  daybreak  next  day  we  were  off  to  the 
woods  again.  Our  walk  to  a  hiding-place  re- 
vealed the  somewhat  startling  fact  that  all  the 
woods  and  thickets  had  been  thoroughly 
searched  by  the  Yankees  the  day  before.  The 
tracks  of  their  horses  were  thickly  scattered  in 
every  direction,  and  had  we  not  crossed  the  road 
I  do  not  see  how  we  could  have  avoided  capture. 

222 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHERMAN'S  ARMY 

During  the  day  we  heard  little  shooting  and 
saw  no  columns  of  smoke,  so  on  the  urgent  in- 
vitation of  Leitner  we  again  spent  the  night  at 
his  house.  We  concluded  that  the  Yankees  had 
left  and  that  on  the  morrow  we  could  safely  go 
on  to  Columbia.  But  our  hopes  vanished  when, 
just  as  we  were  sitting  down  to  supper,  one  of 
the  children  discovered  a  fire  not  half  a  mile 
away.  We  at  once  decided  to  spend  the  night 
in  the  woods,  rushed  from  the  house,  and  ran  in 
the  direction  of  the  fire.  From  a  hilltop  over- 
looking it  we  watched  the  burning  building  sink 
into  smoldering  brands,  but  as  we  saw  no 
soldiers  returned  to  Leitner's  about  midnight. 
The  experience  showed  us,  however,  that  it 
was  not  yet  safe  to  venture  on  our  way,  so  we 
spent  another  day  in  hiding,  and  returned  at 
night  to  Leitner's.  During  supper  the  servant 
announced  that  there  were  strangers  at  the  gate. 
In  an  instant  Leitner,  the  captain,  and  I  were 
out  of  the  back  door  and  over  the  fence.  The 
newcomers  proved  to  be  Confederates,  however, 
fugitives  like  ourselves,  members  of  the  Medi- 
cal Department  on  their  way  back  to  Columbia. 
They  had  during  the  day  met  many  pedestrians 
from  the  city  who  concurred  in  saying  that  there 
were  no  Yankees  there  or  on  the  way  thither. 

223 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

We  ate  our  supper  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight, 
therefore,  and  went  to  bed  to  dream  of  home. 

The  next  morning,  after  a  hearty  breakfast 
and  a  still  more  hearty  good-by  to  our  good 
hostess,  who  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  take 
a  cent  for  all  her  kindness,  we  set  out  in  high 
spirits,  though  the  rain  was  falling  in  torrents. 
On  we  went  at  a  swinging  gait,  my  heart  on  fire 
with  the  thought  of  taking  supper  at  home,  for 
we  had  been  told  that  though  four-fifths  of  Co- 
lumbia was  in  ruins,  the  College  buildings  had 
been  spared.  But  Captain  Green  tried  in  vain 
to  keep  up,  and  by  half  past  one  was  completely 
exhausted.  At  a  venture  I  went  up  to  a  house 
to  see  if  I  could  procure  some  food,  and  to  my 
surprise  found  it  the  home  of  an  intimate 
friend.  "We  were  heartily  welcomed  and  given 
a  delicious  dinner  with  coffee,  real,  genuine 
coffee,  the  first  I  had  tasted  for  two  years. 
Moreover,  my  kind  host  insisted  that  Cap- 
tain Green  should  stay  overnight  to  regain  his 
strength.  About  three,  therefore,  I  bade  them 
farewell  and  strode  on  at  a  rapid  rate,  walking 
the  six  miles  to  Columbia  in  an  hour  and  a  half. 

I  entered  the  city  at  the  extreme  northern 
end,  and  went  down  the  whole  length  of  the  main 
street,  a  mile  and  a  half.    Not  a  house  was 

224 


FUGITIVE  BEFOEE  SHERMAN'S  AEMY 

standing  and  I  met  not  a  living  sonl!  The 
beautiful  city,  the  pride  of  the  State,  sat  desolate 
and  in  ashes.  The  fire  had  swept  five  or  six 
blocks  wide  right  through  its  heart,  leaving  only 
the  eastern  and  western  outskirts.  At  last  I 
saw  the  brick  wall  surrounding  the  campus  and 
the  buildings  of  the  College,  and  a  few  minutes 
later  was  knocking  at  the  door  of  my  own  ivy- 
covered  home.  Deep  silence  for  a  moment,  then 
the  quick  pattering  of  little  feet  along  the  hall, 
then  my  wife  and  children  hanging  around  my 
neck  with  mingled  laughter  and  tears. 

Then  followed  a  recital  of  experiences  on 
either  side.  Theirs  had  been  far  more  dread- 
ful than  mine,  but  as  I  did  not  personally  wit- 
ness them  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
terrors  of  the  bombardment  of  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth,  the  still  greater  terrors  of  the 
entrance  and  occupation  by  the  enemy,  or  the 
inconceivable  horrors  of  the  night  of  the  seven- 
teenth. But  a  few  facts  learned  that  night  from 
my  wife  and  daughters  and  later  confirmed  by 
thousands  of  eye-witnesses,  I  will  briefly  state. 

Our  forces  evacuated  the  city  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  seventeenth,  the  Yankees  enter- 
ing and  taking  formal  possession  about  nine 
o'clock.  General  Sherman  personally  promised 
16  225 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

the  Mayor,  Dr.  Goodwyn,  complete  protection 
and  perfect  security  of  personal  property,  and 
during  the  day  everything  was  quiet.  A  number 
of  officers,  however,  among  them  a  colonel 
quartered  in  my  brother's  house,  hinted  about 
certain  rockets  that  would  signal  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  city.  About  seven  in  the  evening, 
after  ten  hours  of  peaceable  possession,  when  there 
were  no  Confederate  soldiers  within  fifteen 
miles,  these  signal  rockets  went  up  from  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  city  and  instantly  fires  burst 
out  everywhere.  In  an  hour  Columbia  was  a 
roaring,  surging  sea  of  flames.  The  streets 
were  filled  with  ten  thousand  yelling  soldiers, 
running  from  house  to  house  with  flaming 
torches,  and  even  stealing  their  trinkets  from 
the  frightened  women  who  rushed  into  the 
streets  from  their  burning  homes.  Every  house 
in  the  city,  except  those  within  the  campus  walls, 
was  pillaged,  and  most  of  them  first  pillaged 
and  then  burned.  As  the  College  buildings 
were  used  as  a  hospital  for  the  soldiers  of  both 
sides,  a  guard  was  placed  around  them  to  pro- 
tect them,  but  spite  of  this  they  were  several 
times  fired  and  saved  only  by  the  exertions  of 
the  physicians.  Once  their  destruction  seemed 
so  probable  that  all  the  patients  were  removed 

226 


FUGITIVE  BEFORE  SHEEMAN'S  ARMY 

into  the  open  area  in  the  middle  of  the  campus, 
and  the  next  day  over  twenty  died  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fright  and  exposure.  At  one  time 
my  wife  thought  our  home  was  certainly 
doomed,  and  she  spent  the  greater  part  of  the 
dreadful  night  with  the  children  around  her  in 
the  back  garden  far  from  the  house. 

No  one  of  the  enemy  had,  however,  crossed 
the  threshold  of  our  door.  Ah  me!  what  a 
fatality  seemed  to  have  pursued  us  and  our 
wagons !  Had  we  left  the  things  at  home,  they 
would  have  been  safe ;  had  we  on  starting  taken 
the  direct  road  to  Allston,  they  would  have  been 
safe;  had  we  remained  where  we  camped  the 
first  night,  they  would  have  been  safe;  had  we 
stopped  anywhere  within  three  miles  from  Co- 
lumbia and  three  miles  from  Little  River,  they 
would  have  been  safe. 

Mr.  Davis,  I  was  told  in  answer  to  my  in- 
quiries, had  slept  the  night  of  my  departure  in 
the  study  in  the  basement  of  my  house.  Hav- 
ing carefully  examined  the  doors  and  windows 
and  found  that  in  case  of  danger  he  could  escape 
into  either  the  front  or  the  back  yard,  he  begged 
that  if  any  unusual  noise  was  heard  he  might  be 
called  at  once,  as  he  had  had  little  rest  for  many 
nights  and  would  probably  sleep  deeply.    Dur- 

227 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ing  the  following  day  he  had  been  arrested 
as  a  Yankee  spy  on  information  furnished  by  an 
old  negress,  but  was  promptly  released  by  our 
officers,  who  recognized  him  as  one  of  our  own 
most  trusted  spies.  The  night  of  the  sixteenth 
he  brought  a  tall,  dark,  villainous-looking  man, 
probably  a  Yankee  spy,  to  my  brother's  house, 
which,  as  it  opened  on  the  street,  was  more  ex- 
posed than  any  other  on  the  campus,  told  him 
to  notice  it  particularly,  and  said  in  an  authori- 
tative voice,  "  Remember,  /  protect  this  house." 
As  the  last  Confederates  were  leaving  the  city 
next  morning  he  again  came  to  my  home  and 
begging  one  of  my  daughters  to  accept  as  a 
memento  of  him  some  ribbons,  feathers,  and 
other  trifles,  said  farewell.  In  taking  leave  he 
said,  "  Our  army  is  going,  but  if  the  Yankees 
enter  your  house,  I  shall  certainly  be  with  them. 
Be  sure  you  do  not  betray  me  by  recognition." 
He  went  and  we  never  saw  or  heard  of  him 
again.  Was  he  a  Confederate  spy?  Was  he  a 
Yankee  spy?  Or  was  he  a  spy  on  both  sides? 
We  never  knew. 


CHAPTER   IX 

AFTER     THE     WAR 

During  the  entire  war  we  suffered  some- 
what for  food — I  hardly  tasted  tea,  coffee,  or 
sugar  for  four  years — but  after  the  burning  of 
Columbia  we  were  straitened  indeed.  For  a 
week  the  negroes  on  our  lot,  some  twenty  in  num- 
ber, fed  us  with  what  they  had  gathered  during! 
the  sack.  After  that  for  a  couple  of  weeks  pro- 
visions came  in  from  the  surrounding  country, 
and  we  drew  rations  of  beef,  bacon,  and  corn- 
meal  from  the  city.  Then  I  went  to  Augusta 
and  secured  supplies  from  friends  there,  and 
still  later  a  tierce  of  rice  that  belonged  to  the 
Niter  and  Mining  Bureau  was  sent  us  from 
Camden. 

In  the  matter  of  clothing  we  were  no  better 
off.  "We  had  long  before  been  reduced  to  the\ 
coarse  stuffs  made  in  the  Confederacy,  and  the 
ladies  wore  nothing  but  homespun.  But  with 
the  taste  characteristic  of  the  sex  they  made  \ 

229 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

their  dresses  so  neatly  and  trimmed  them  so 
prettily  that  I  have  never  seen  more  becoming 
gowns.  As  I  had  taken  all  my  clothing  with  me 
when  I  left  Columbia,  I  had  nothing  after  my 
return  but  what  I  wore  on  my  back  and  that  was 
in  rags.  A  benevolent  society  of  ladies  sup- 
plied me  with  underclothes,  but  for  outer 
clothing  I  was  compelled  for  a  time  to  use  the 
cast-off  blue  of  Federal  soldiers  who  had  died 
in  the  hospital.  My  negroes  were  dependent  on 
me,  as  were  those  of  the  Bureau,  about  ninety 
in  all.  I  got  cloth  for  their  apparel,  but  as  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  blankets,  I  was  obliged 
to  cut  up  all  my  carpets  to  take  their  place  and 
for  a  long  time  my  floors  remained  bare. 

After  the  war  came  what  was  worse  than  the 
war  itself,  the  occupation  by  Federal  troops  and 
the  humiliations  necessarily  attendant  thereon. 
This,  of  course,  we  expected.  But  far  worse  was 
the  arrival  of  "  Treasury  Agents,"  those  vul- 
tures hovering  over  the  rear  of  the  army  of 
occupation,  sniffing  for  carrion,  hunting  for 
property  to  confiscate,  taking  accusations  of  any 
and  all  kinds,  especially  those  by  irresponsible 
blacks.  Then  followed  the  utter  demoraliza- 
tion of  all  labor  and  the  intolerable  insolence  of 
the  negroes  suddenly  set  free  with  all  their  pas- 

230 


AFTER   THE   WAS 

sions  not  only  uncontrolled  but  often  even  en- 
couraged. As  I  can  not  speak  of  these  matters 
with  any  calmness,  I  forbear  to  speak  of  them 
at  all. 

In  May,  after  the  United  States  Comman- 
dant had  taken  possession  of  the  post,  I  went  to 
him  and  told  him  that  there  was  a  flat-boat  on 
the  river  that  had  belonged  to  the  Niter  and 
Mining  Bureau  and  was  therefore  confiscable, 
but  as  it  was  of  no  value  to  the  United  States  I 
asked  and  immediately  received  permission  to 
use  it  in  bringing  corn  for  the  city  from  the 
plantations  below.  I  went  down  the  river  with 
a  crew  of  negroes  and  brought  up  several  thou- 
sand bushels.  The  city  allowed  me  a  hundred 
bushels,  which  I  divided  with  John.  On  the 
fifty  bushels  of  corn  thus  received  I  lived,  by 
exchange,  until  August.  The  first  money  that  I 
had  seen  since  the  break-up  in  March  then  came 
to  me  from  the  sale  of  cotton  made  the  previous 
year,  for  in  1865  none  was  even  planted.  In 
January,  1866,  the  College  was  reopened,  and 
my  salary,  which  during  the  greatest  stress  of 
the  war,  in  1864,  had  ceased,  began  again. 

As  a  result  of  the  war  I  lost  everything  I 
had  in  the  world,  for,  except  the  eight  thousand 
dollars   in  bonds   lost   at  the   capture   of  the 

231 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

wagons,  all  my  property  was  in  lands  and 
negroes.  But  this  total  loss  did  not  in  the  least 
dishearten  me;  I  did  not  lose  a  wink  of  sleep. 
This  was  partly  because  everybody  else  had  suf- 
fered in  the  same  way,  partly  because  I  felt  sure 
that  I  could  make  my  living  somehow,  partly, 
and  perhaps  chiefly,  because  I  had  always  been 
oppressed  by  the  ownership  of  slaves.  Not  be- 
cause I  felt  any  conscientious  scruples  about  it, 
but  because  I  felt  distressingly  the  responsi- 
bility of  their  care ;  because  I  felt  that  those  who 
own  slaves  ought  personally  to  manage  them, 
as  my  father  did.  This  I  could  not  do  without 
sacrificing  all  my  ambition  in  life  and  the  health 
of  my  family.  The  income  from  my  land,  on  ac- 
count of  its  situation,  had  always  been  far 
smaller  than  its  market  v?lue  warranted,  and  I 
could  at  any  time  during  the  twenty  years  pre- 
vious to  the  war  have  sold  it  and  changed  the 
form  of  investment  with  great  advantage  to  my- 
self. This  I  refused  to  do  purely  out  of  kind- 
ness to  the  negroes  and  because  of  a  sense  of 
responsibility  for  their  welfare.  By  their 
emancipation,  therefore,  I  felt  that  an  intoler- 
able burden  had  been  lifted  from  my  shoulders. 
To  the  astonishment  of  all  my  friends,  I  as- 
serted that,  although  practically  it  might  be  and 

232 


AFTER   THE   WAR 

in  this  case  undoubtedly  was,  the  freeing  of 
slaves  was  not  necessarily  any  loss  of  property 
at  all ;  that  it  certainly  was  not  loss  of  property 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  burning  of  a  house  is. 
This  was  only  saying  that  slaves  were  not  prop- 
erty, chattels,  in  the  sense  in  which  other  things 
are,  and  in  fact  they  were  never  so  treated  in  the 
South.  The  right  claimed  was  to  their  labor 
and  the  change  was  simply  from  a  slave-system 
to  a  wage-system.  I  contended  that,  if  the 
labor  remained  reliable,  the  market  value  of  the 
slaves  would  be  transferred  bodily  to  the  land. 
For,  I  argued,  under  the  wage-system,  if  the 
negroes  were  reliable,  the  income  of  the  land 
would  certainly  be  as  great  as  ever.  This  was 
admitted.  Now,  the  value  of  land,  as  of  every 
other  investment,  is  determined  wholly  by  the 
income.  Q.  E.  D.  The  great  impoverishment 
of  the  South  was  due  wholly  to  the  complete  dis- 
organization of  the  labor  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  the  sudden  change. 

Looking  back  now  from  the  standpoint  of 
1901,  my  contention  is  entirely  justified. 
Wherever  the  labor  is  reliable  and  the  manage- 
ment judicious  the  land  makes  as  much  now  as 
it  ever  did  in  slave  times,  and,  therefore,  the 
owner  is  as  rich  as  he  ever  was.    He  has  suf- 

233 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

fered  no  loss.  But  in  some  places  negro  labor 
continues  to  be  utterly  unreliable.  This  is  es- 
pecially true  of  the  so-called  "  black  belt,"  where 
the  negroes  are  greatly  in  excess  of  the  whites, 
and  more  especially  true  in  Liberty  County, 
where  I  still  have  nearly  two  thousand  acres  of 
land,  half  of  it  very  rich.  It  has  never  made 
me  a  cent  since  the  war.  The  negroes  there  will 
not  work  for  wages,  as  they  can  live  almost  with- 
out work  on  fish,  crawfish,  and  oysters;  a  little 
patch  of  cotton  furnishing  them  the  means  for 
tobacco  and  clothing.  They  have  no  ambition 
to  improve,  and  live  almost  like  animals.  The 
whole  lower  and  richer  part  of  the  country  is 
practically  given  up  to  them,  the  whites  having 
nearly  all  gone  elsewhere.  And  yet  the  kind- 
liest feelings  exist  among  the  blacks  toward  the 
whites,  especially  toward  their  former  masters. 
"Whenever  I  go  down  to  the  old  place,  I  am 
greeted  with  the  greatest  joy  and  affection  and 
called  "  Massah,"  as  in  slavery  times.  In  1892 
old  Sandy  actually  threw  his  arms  around  my 
neck  and  embraced  me.  But  they  always  ex- 
pect some  gratuity,  and  I  never  disappoint 
them.  In  the  middle  and  up  country,  where  the 
proportion  of  whites  is  greater,  the  negroes  are 
slowly  improving  in  conduct  and  in  thrift,  but 

234 


AFTER   THE   WAR 

in  the  "  black  belt "  they  are  either  stationary 
or  are  gradually  relapsing  into  fetishism  and 
African  rites  and  dances. 

As  has  been  said,  the  College  reopened  in 
1866,  the  small  salaries  paid  being  supplemented 
by  fees  from  the  students.  To  give  a  more 
practical  education,  one  more  suited  to  the  im- 
poverished condition  of  the  State,  it  was  reor- 
ganized on  the  plan  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia, with  independent  schools  and  freedom  of 
election.  In  connection  with  chemistry  I  had 
to  give  a  course  in  pharmacy,  and  in  connection 
with  geology  one  in  agriculture.  It  was  im- 
possible, of  course,  to  do  this  fully,  all  I  could 
do  for  pharmacy  being  to  enlarge  in  my  chemi- 
cal course  on  the  preparation  and  properties  of 
the  substances  used  in  medicine,  and  for  agri- 
culture to  give  a  course  of  six  or  eight  lectures 
on  the  most  fundamental  principles  underlying 
the  science  and  the  art.  Meager,  very  meager, 
certainly;  almost  useless,  the  reader  may  say. 
Yet  I  have  heard  some  of  my  students  who 
afterward  engaged  in  agriculture  refer  to  this 
short  course  with  great  satisfaction  as  having 
been  of  decided  benefit  to  them. 

Meanwhile,  in  1866,  Johnson's  plan  of  recon- 
struction was  tried  and  failed.     Though  I  was 

235 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

not  a  member  of  the  convention  which  was  held 
in  Columbia,  a  number  of  my  old  pupils  and 
friends  were  and  with  them  I  had  many  talks. 
I  insisted  that  the  convention  should  adopt  a 
franchise  without  distinction  of  color,  but  with  a 
small  educational  and  property  qualification.  My 
friends  admitted  the  wisdom  of  the  suggestion 
but  said  that  it  was  impossible,  as  the  leaders 
had  not  "  backbone  "  enough  to  propose  it  and 
the  people  were  not  ready  to  indorse  it.  It  was 
a  great  opportunity  lost,  for,  though  Congress 
would  probably  have  repudiated  Johnson's 
plan  anyhow,  it  would  have  been  well  to  put  our- 
selves on  record  in  this  regard. 

I  never  knew  so  much  real  social  enjoyment 
in  Columbia  as  in  the  years  1866  and  1867; 
society  was  really  gay,  the  necessary  result  of 
the  rebound  from  the  agony  and  repression  of 
the  war.  My  daughters  were  then  "  in  their 
teens,"  and  for  their  sakes  we  entered  heartily 
into  the  general  gaiety.  As  everybody  was  poor 
the  gatherings  were  almost  wholly  without  ex- 
pense, and  therefore  frequent;  the  hostess  sim- 
ply furnished  lemonade  and  cake  and  the  young 
men  a  negro  fiddler. 

The  commandants  of  the  post  were  changed 
from  time  to  time,  five  in  all  serving.     The  last 

236 


AFTER   THE   WAR 

two  were  really  good  fellows,  much  disposed  to 
fraternize  with  the  people.  The  gentlemen  of 
Columbia  were  very  cordial  toward  them,  but 
the  ladies  were  inexorable.  Nothing  would  in- 
duce them  to  recognize  the  officers  and  their 
wives;  they  were  tabooed.  I  became  quite 
friendly  with  some  of  the  officers,  swimming 
daily  during  the  summer  with  them  in  "  Rock 
Spring,"  a  splendid  place  for  the  sport;  but  I 
could  never  induce  my  wife  to  invite  one  of  the 
gentlemen  to  the  house  for  a  social  meal.  We 
men  exchanged  visits,  but  the  friendship  went 
no  further. 

Under  the  provisional  government  estab- 
lished by  President  Johnson,  we  got  on  very 
well.  A  very  dear  friend  of  mine,  Major  Perry, 
was  appointed  provisional  governor.  He  was 
a  man  of  noble  presence,  untarnished  integrity, 
and  sterling  character,  a  Union  man  during  the 
secession  movement,  but  loyal  to  the  State 
when  it  seceded.  With  such  a  governor  and 
the  assistance  of  the  military,  whom  we  had 
come  to  regard  as  our  best  friends,  everything 
went  on  prosperously,  and  the  people  were  well 
satisfied.  But  when  the  permanent  govern- 
ment was  organized  in  the  presence  of  bayonets, 
with  a  carpet-bag  governor,  scalawag  officials, 

237 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  a  negro  legislature  controlled  by  rascals, 
things  were  very  different,  and  at  last  became 
simply  intolerable.  There  was  an  income  tax 
of  five  per  cent;  my  salary  was  two  thousand 
dollars,  so  I  paid  one  hundred  dollars ;  I  subse- 
quently learned  that  I  paid  more  tax  than  the 
whole  legislature  put  together.  Think  of  such 
a  legislature  making  laws,  and  especially  tax 
laws,  for  a  State!  Anticipating  somewhat,  I 
may  say  that  this  condition  of  affairs  continued 
and  grew  even  worse  until  1876,  when,  the  car- 
pet-bag government  having  become  a  stench  in 
the  nostrils  of  the  whole  country,  the  bayonets 
were  removed,  the  whites  assumed  control,  by 
force  when  necessary,  Hampton  was  elected 
governor,  and  order  was  restored;  prosperity 
then  again  began  and  has  increased  from  year 
to  year  till  the  present  time.  The  iniquity  of 
the  carpet-bag  government  was  simply  inex- 
pressible. The  sudden  enfranchisement  of  the 
negro  without  qualification  was  the  greatest 
political  crime  ever  perpetrated  by  any  peo- 
ple, as  is  now  admitted  by  all  thoughtful 
men. 

The  College  had  been  strongly  reorganized 
as  a  university  with  elective  courses,  and  the 
faculty  greatly  strengthened  by  the  addition  of 

238 


AFTER   THE   WAR 

Robert  W.  Barnwell  as  president  and  General 
E.  P.  Alexander  as  professor  of  mathematics 
and  engineering.  The  former  was  a  man  of 
imposing  appearance,  splendid  ability,  and 
strong  personality,  the  highest  type  of  South- 
ern gentleman  and  scholar;  and  I  admired  and 
revered  him  exceedingly.  The  latter,  who  had 
been  chief  engineer  in  Lee's  army,  was  a 
hearty,  whole-souled,  enthusiastic  friend  and 
companion  and  a  kind  of  genius  in  mathematics, 
and  especially  in  engineering. 

The  society  in  Columbia  at  that  time  was 
one  of  the  most  refined  and  cultivated  I  ever 
knew,  making  it  a  delightful  place  for  my  wife 
and  family.  But  the  prospects  for  the  South 
were  gloomy  in  the  extreme.  I  bore  the  iniqui- 
ties of  the  government  as  long  as  I  could,  but 
when  the  negro  legislature  began  to  talk  about 
what  they  were  going  to  do  with  the  University, 
I  thought  it  time  to  quit.  Colonies  were  being 
formed  to  emigrate  to  Mexico  and  Brazil,  and 
for  a  while  John  and  I  thought  seriously  of  try- 
ing our  fortunes  with  Maximilian.  But  just 
then  we  heard  through  friends  of  the  proposed 
University  of  California,  and  wrote  immedi- 
ately applying  for  professorships.  We  were 
elected,  John  in  November  and  I  in  December, 

239 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

1868,  and  this  led  to  our  removal  to  California 
in  the  following  year. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  winter  of  1866,  I  had  re- 
sumed my  scientific  activity,  which  had  perforce 
been  suspended  when  the  absorption  of  the  mind 
in  the  war  and  its  possible  results  made  abstract 
thinking  and  writing  seem  an  absurdity,  if  not 
a  crime.  During  the  winter  of  1866-67  I  gave 
six  lectures  on  coal  and  petroleum  at  the  Pea- 
body  Institute  in  Baltimore,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  again  commenced  original  scientific 
work.  From  early  childhood,  as  I  have  already 
said,  I  had  been  singularly  gifted  in  binocular 
experimenting  and  in  the  analysis  of  visual  phe- 
nomena, and  to  this  subject  I  now  turned  my 
attention.  My  interest  was  excited  by  an  elabo- 
rate paper  in  the  Archives  des  Sciences  by  Clap- 
arede,  and  my  ardor  intensified  by  an  address 
by  Helmholtz  before  the  Royal  Society.  I  at 
once  saw  that  both  these  papers  were  all  wrong 
in  their  interpretation  of  the  phenomena  de- 
scribed, and  immediately  wrote  three  articles, 
Adjustments  of  the  Eye,  Rotation  of  the  Eye 
on  the  Optic  Axis,  and  The  Horopter.  These 
were  published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Sci- 
ence in  1869*  and  reprinted  in  the  London,  Ed- 

*  XCVII,  68-77,  153-168,  168-177. 

240 


AFTER   THE   WAR 

inburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical  Magazine.* 
They  were  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  twelve 
or  more  papers  that  I  later  condensed  and  em- 
bodied in  the  volume  entitled  Sight,  in  the  Inter- 
national Scientific  Series. 

*  XXXVII,  131-140;  xxxviii,  179-193,  193-202. 


17  241 


CHAPTER  X 

EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

After  having  been  connected  for  thirteen 
years  with  the  South  Carolina  College  and  Uni- 
versity, I  left  Columbia  in  August,  1869.  I  was 
very,  very  sorry  to  leave,  for  not  only  was  the 
society  in  the  city  delightful,  but  five  months  be- 
fore my  departure  my  eldest  daughter  had  mar- 
ried Mr.  Farish  Furman,  and  it  was  a  bitter  trial 
for  us  to  leave  her  and  place  a  whole  continent 
between  us.  But  Furman  was  a  fine,  energetic, 
talented  young  fellow,  an  old  pupil  of  mine, 
whom  I  knew  well ;  and  I  was  confident  that  my 
daughter  was  in  good  hands. 

From  Columbia  I  went  to  New  York  with 
my  wife  and  daughter,  and  met  there  my  sister 
Jane  and  her  daughter,  who  had  decided  to  go 
with  us.  As  soon  as  we  were  sure  that  the 
transcontinental  railroad,  which  had  just  been 
opened,  was  working  satisfactorily,  we  started 
west  on  it,  and  arrived  in  San  Francisco  early  in 

242 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

September.  John  and  his  wife,  who  had  pre- 
ceded us,  met  us  on  our  arrival,  and  the  next  day 
we  went  over  to  Oakland  and  took  possession  of 
a  fine,  roomy  house  that  John  had  previously 
rented.  The  University  had  been  completely 
organized  by  John,  who  was  to  act  as  its  pres- 
ident until  the  election  of  such  officer  by  the  re- 
gents ;  and  was  opened  on  the  twentieth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1869,  when  I  entered  on  my  duties. 
Eleven  students  were  inherited  from  the  Col- 
lege of  California,  which  had  disincorporated 
and  turned  its  property  over  to  the  University, 
twenty-five  entered  the  freshman  class,  and  one 
or  two  enrolled  as  special  students,  a  total  of 
about  thirty-eight. 

These  early  years  in  California  were  very  ac- 
tive ones  for  me,  the  wonderful  new  country,  so 
different  from  any  that  I  had  previously  seen, 
the  climate,  the  splendid  scenery,  the  active, 
energetic  people,  and  the  magnificent  field  for 
scientific,  and  especially  for  geological  investi- 
gations, stimulating  my  intellectual  activity  to 
the  highest  degree.  Coming  to  a  new  country, 
I  had  to  make  myself  known  to  the  people,  so 
accepted  invitations  to  lecture  on  many  occa- 
sions. In  addition  to  popular  lectures  in  many 
places  and  frequent  addresses  before  the  Cali- 

243 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

fornia  Teachers'  Association,  I  gave  at  least 
twenty  lectures  on  scientific  subjects  before  the 
Mechanics'  Institute  of  San  Francisco,  and  a 
series  on  Sundays  in  Oakland  on  The  Relations 
of  Science  and  Religion.  This  last  course 
was  reported  stenographically  and  published 
by  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  consti- 
tuting my  first  book.  As  in  the  University  I 
lectured  on  geology,  zoology,  and  botany,  I  was 
working  to  the  limit  of  my  strength. 

Geology  had  now  become  my  favorite  de- 
partment, but  as  to  understand  the  geology  of  a 
new  country  requires  much  time  and  travel,  my 
scientific  activity  was  at  first  in  other  lines. 
Especially  did  the  fascinating  subject  of  binoc- 
ular vision  interest  me.  I  have  already  said 
that  my  first  papers  on  this  were  in  answer 
to  Claparede  and  Helmholtz,  and  it  is  curious 
that  nearly  all  my  work  on  this  subject  was 
forced  upon  me  by  the  publications  of  others 
who  were  not  able  to  analyze  perfectly  their  own 
visual  impressions.  Soon  after  I  came  to  Cali- 
fornia my  attention  was  called  to  a  series  of 
papers  on  Physiology  of  Vision  in  the  Guy's 
Hospital  Reports  by  Dr.  Townes,  which,  though 
fundamentally  wrong,  were  very  suggestive  to 
me.    From  the  nature  of  the  misunderstandings 

244 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

in  this  case,  I  saw  plainly  that  a  new  mode  of 
diagrammatic  representation  of  binocular  phe- 
nomena was  necessary,  and  accordingly  wrote 
an  elaborately  illustrated  paper,  giving  the  new 
mode  and  showing  how  all  binocular  phenom- 
ena may  be  completely  represented  by  it.  This 
was  published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Sci- 
ence in  1871,*  and  led  up  to  a  paper  on  Stere- 
oscopic Phenomena  f  and  one  on  So-called 
"  Images  of  Illusion  " ;  and  the  Theory  of  Bi- 
nocular Relief,:}:  in  the  preparation  of  which  I 
made  many  experiments  on  binocular  perspec- 
tive by  the  light  of  the  electric  spark.  In  these 
papers  I  supplemented  and  completed  the 
theory  of  Briicke,  already  spoken  of.  Had 
nothing  else  happened  I  suppose  I  might  have 
stopped  here;  but  in  the  same  year  there  had 
appeared  in  the  Archives  des  Sciences  a  most 
elaborate  paper  by  M.  Raoul  Pictet,  entitled 
Memoire  sur  la  Vision  Binoculaire,  which  was 
itself  an  abstract  of  a  still  more  elaborate  mem- 
oir in  the  Transactions  of  the  Imperial  Acad- 
emy of  St.  Petersburg,  that  contained  a  theory 

*  The  Mode  of  Representing  the  Position  of  Double  Images. 
Am.  Jour.  Sc,  ci,  33-44. 
f  Ibid.,  cii,  1-10. 
%  Ibid.,  cii,  315-323,  417-426. 

245 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

of  binocular  perspective  that  I  saw  at  once  was 
all  wrong,  because  based  on  an  entire  misinter- 
pretation of  the  phenomena  described.  I  gave 
the  true  interpretation  in  the  last  of  the  above- 
named  papers,  and  published  it  not  only  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science  but  also  in  the 
Archives  des  Sciences.*  M.  Pictet  replied,  and 
I  wrote  a  rejoinder  on  transparency  of  double 
images, f  giving  an  explanation  that  was  con- 
firmed by  Professor  Dor,  of  the  University  of 
Berne,  in  a  paper  published  in  the  Archives  des 
Sciences.  In  the  same  year  Professor  Tyndall 
published  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine  a  let- 
ter to  him  by  J.  L.  Tupper,  in  which  were  de- 
scribed some  phenomena  that  seemed  to  him  to 
contradict  the  law  of  direction.  I  immediately 
wrote,  showing  that,  instead  of  contradicting, 
they  confirm  that  law4  It  is  thus  seen  that 
the  year  1871  was  a  fruitful  one  to  me  on  this 
subject. 

Meanwhile,  in  1870,  our  hearts  had  been 
gladdened  by  the  birth  of  the  long-hoped-for 
son.    Though  I  had  been  well  enough  satisfied 

*  Nouv.  Per.,  xli,  394-422. 

f  Sur  la  Transparence  des  Images  Doubles.     Arch,  des  Sc, 
Nouv.  Per.,  xlv,  229-232. 

%  On  an  Optical  Illusion.     Phil.  Mag.,  xli,  4th  ser.,  pt.  i, 
266-269. 

246 


Design  for  the  Le  Conte  Memorial  Lodge  of  the  Sierra  Club, 
to  be  erected  in  the  Yosemite  Valley. 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

with  girls,  for  they  are,  I  think,  the  light  of  a 
home,  we  were  all  delighted  that  this  child  was 
a  boy. 

In  the  summer  of  the  same  year,  at  the  end 
of  the  first  session  of  the  University,  eight  of 
the  students  invited  Professor  Frank  Soule",  Jr., 
and  me  to  join  them  in  a  camping  trip  to  the 
Sierras,  and  we  joyfully  accepted.  This  trip 
was  almost  an  era  in  my  life.  We  were  gone 
six  weeks  and  visited  the  Yosemite,  the  high 
Sierra,  Lake  Mono  and  the  volcanoes  in  the 
vicinity,  and  Lake  Tahoe.  The  trip  was  made 
in  the  roughest  style  of  camp  life,  each  man 
carrying  his  bedding  and  extra  clothing  in  a 
roll  behind  his  saddle,  and  a  packhorse  bear- 
ing the  food  and  camp  utensils  for  the  party. 
We  had  no  tent,  but  slept  under  trees  with  only 
the  sky  above  us.  I  never  enjoyed  anything 
else  so  much  in  my  life — perfect  health,  the 
merry  party  of  young  men,  the  glorious  scenery, 
and,  above  all,  the  magnificent  opportunity  for 
studying  mountain  origin  and  structure.  Ob- 
servations made  on  this  and  later  trips  formed 
the  basis  for  ten  or  eleven  papers  on  this  most 
fundamental  and  fascinating  subject  and  on 
others  closely  related.  I  subsequently  made 
many  similar  trips,  but  this  remained  the  most 

247 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

delightful,  because,  as  it  was  the  first,  every- 
thing was  so  new  to  me  and  so  different  from 
anything  that  I  had  previously  experienced.  I 
do  not  attempt  to  describe  it  in  detail,  because 
my  observations,  jotted  down  from  day  to  day 
at  our  noon  camps,  were  published,  in  1875,  as 
A  Journal  of  Ramblings  through  the  High 
Sierras  of  California  by  the  University  Excur- 
sion Party,  and,  the  original  edition  being  out 
of  print  and  scarce,  reprinted  by  the  Sierra 
Club  in  1900. 

Although  this  trip  was  made  in  1870,  my  first 
paper  on  mountain  formation  was  not  pub- 
lished until  1872,*  the  fact  being  that  I  can  not 
write  without  much  reflection.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, so  much  deliberate,  conscious,  voluntary 
reflection  as  the  silent,  unconscious  germination 
of  an  idea.  The  first  paper  was  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  another,!  in  reply  to  some  criticism  by 
Sterry  Hunt. 

During  the  summer  vacation  of  1871  I  made 
a  trip  through  Oregon,  Washington,  and  British 
Columbia,  enjoying  the  unrivaled  scenery  of  the 

*  A  Theory  of  the  Formation  of  the  Great  Features  of  the 
Earth's  Surface.     Am.  Jour.  Sc,  civ,  345-355,  460-472. 

f  On  the  Formation  of  the  Features  of  the  Earth's  Surface. 
Reply  to  Criticisms  of  T.  Sterry  Hunt.  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cv,  448- 
453. 

248 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

Columbia  and  Fraser  Rivers  and  Puget  Sound, 
and  observing  carefully  the  many  important 
geological  features.  The  following  summer  I 
made  another  horseback  camping  trip  similar 
to  the  one  of  1870  and  observed  more  carefully 
glacial  and  volcanic  phenomena.  Observations 
then  made  gave  rise  later  to  several  papers  on 
the  ancient  glaciers  of  the  Sierras  and  on  the 
volcanic  phenomena  about  Lake  Mono. 

In  1873  I  made  another  trip  to  Oregon,  visit- 
ing the  Columbia  and  Des  Chutes  Rivers  and 
the  John  Day  region,  in  order  to  examine  more 
carefully  the  origin,  structure,  and  age  of  the 
Cascade  Mountains,  and  the  phenomena  of  the 
great  lava-flood  of  the  Northwest.  Professor 
Condon,  of  the  University  of  Oregon,  accompa- 
nied me  and  directed  all  my  observations.  This 
trip  and  the  previous  one  gave  rise  to  a  paper  * 
that  I  regard  as  very  important,  since  it  first 
drew  the  attention  of  geologists  to  the  enormous 
extent  of  the  great  lava  flood  of  this  region, 
probably  the  greatest  in  the  world,  and  the  time 
of  its  commencement,  the  end  of  the  Miocene 
period. 

*  On  the  Great  Lava-flood  of  the  West;  and  on  the  Structure 
and  Age  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cvii,  167- 
180,  259-367. 

249 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

During  the  fall  of  1872,  soon  after  my  re- 
turn from  my  second  trip  to  the  Yosemite,  Agas- 
siz  visited  us  in  Oakland.  He  had  come  around 
the  Horn  on  the  Hassler,  partly  to  observe  and 
collect  marine  animals,  partly,  by  advice  of  his 
physician,  for  his  health.  Naturally  I  greatly 
enjoyed  his  visit,  but  it  was  the  last  time  that  I 
was  to  see  him.  He  returned  to  Cambridge 
overland  much  improved  in  health,  but  died 
there  in  the  fall  of  the  following  year.  The  Cali- 
fornia Academy  of  Sciences  held  a  memorial 
meeting,  at  which  were  made  many  addresses, 
including  one  by  myself,  a  tribute  to  him  as  a 
man  and  as  a  scientist  and  a  statement  of  what 
seems  to  me  to  constitute  his  greatness.  An 
extract  from  this  address  has  already  been 
given. 

The  summer  vacation  of  1874  I  spent  with 
my  wife  and  children  at  Lake  Tahoe.  Besides 
enjoying  the  beautiful  scenery  of  this  gem  of 
the  Sierras,  I  utilized  the  time  in  carefully  ex- 
amining the  tracks  of  three  old  glaciers  that 
formerly  ran  down  into  the  southern  end  of  the 
lake  and  of  the  splendid  moraines  and  lakelets 
formed  by  them.  I  had  seen  nothing  like  them 
before  except  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Sierras, 
near  Lake  Mono.     They  had  not  been  noticed 

250 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

before,  and  my  observations  gave  rise  to  a  paper 
published  in  1875.*  I  also  took  occasion  while  in 
the  vicinity  to  visit  the  Comstock  Lode  and  to 
examine  carefully  several  of  the  principal 
mines,  especially  the  Chollar  Potosi,  where  I 
was  allowed  every  possible  facility.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  my  investigations  on  the  struc- 
ture and  origin  of  metalliferous  veins,  on  which 
subject,  after  fuller  investigations,  I  wrote  four 
or  five  papers. 

The  University  of  California  received  from 
the  College  of  California  not  only  the  buildings 
in  Oakland  in  which  the  College  had  formerly 
carried  on  its  work,  but  also  a  magnificent  tract 
of  land  some  five  miles  to  the  north,  which  it 
had  acquired  as  a  site  for  new  buildings.  While 
the  laboratories  and  recitation  halls  were  build- 
ing in  Berkeley,  as  the  new  site  was  christened, 
the  University  used  the  old  buildings  in  Oak- 
land. In  June,  1873,  two  of  the  new  buildings 
were  completed  and  the  commencement  exer- 
cises were  held  in  Berkeley.  During  the  rest 
of  that  year  and  the  whole  of  the  next  the  Uni- 
versity was  literally  on  wheels.  There  were  no 
accommodations  at  Berkeley,  so  students  and 

*  On  Some  of  the  Ancient  Glaciers  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.    Am. 
Jour.  Sc,  ex,  126-139. 

251 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

faculty  went  out  from  Oakland  in  the  morning 
and  came  back  in  the  afternoon,  a  horse-car  line 
having  been  built  for  that  express  purpose. 
Gradually  a  town  grew  up  around  the  Univer- 
sity, and  in  the  fall  of  1874  I  transferred  my 
residence  to  it.  The  town  now  (1901)  contains 
about  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  site  of  the  University  is  certainly  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world.  Behind  the 
Berkeley  hills,  with  their  softly  rounded  forms 
mantled  with  green,  rise  to  a  height  of  over  two 
thousand  feet  within  the  distance  of  a  mile;  in 
front  the  ground  slopes  gently  to  the  noble  San 
Francisco  Bay,  with  its  bold  islands ;  and  beyond 
the  bay  are  the  picturesque  Santa  Cruz  and 
Tamalpais  ranges,  three  thousand  feet  high, 
broken  by  the  narrow  strait  called  the  Golden 
Gate,  through  which  from  the  University  one 
can  look  out  on  the  limitless  Pacific.  Surely 
such  a  site  deserves  an  architectural  plan  of 
corresponding  magnificence,  and  such  a  plan  has 
now  been  provided  through  the  munificence  of 
Mrs.  Phoebe  Apperson  Hearst. 

In  1875,  with  a  party  of  four,  all  connected 
with  the  University,  I  again  camped  in  the  high 
Sierra.  "We  visited  the  Yosemite,  Tuolumne 
Meadows,  and  Lake  Mono,  and  expected  to  go 

252 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

southward  to  Lake  Owen,  thence  over  the  Kear- 
sarge  Pass  into  the  King's  River  canon,  and 
from  there  back  to  Berkeley  by  way  of  Fresno. 
But  a  severe  accident  with  dislocation  of  my 
thumb  and  a  general  battering  and  bruising  of 
the  whole  body  prevented  me  from  carrying  out 
this  plan,  and  we  went  no  farther  than  Mono, 
which  I  had  visited  twice  before.  This  time, 
however,  I  examined  still  more  carefully  the 
volcanoes  and  visited  the  islands  in  the  lake  to 
ascertain  their  structure  and  age.  The  outcome 
of  these  observations  was  a  paper  On  the  Ex- 
tinct Volcanoes  about  Lake  Mono  and  their  Re- 
lation to  the  Glacial  Drift.* 

During  this  year,  without  any  voluntary  can- 
didacy on  my  part,  I  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Science.  As  the 
Academy  was  at  that  time  limited  to  fifty  mem- 
bers, this  unsolicited  election  was  a  great  honor. 
I  might  have  been  elected  sooner  but  for  the 
iron-clad  oath  of  uninterrupted  loyalty  to  the 
United  States,  which  of  course  I  could  not  take. 

In  1876  I  wrote  several  papers,  of  which  the 
most  important  was  On  the  Evidences  of  Hori- 
zontal Crushing  in  the  Formation  of  the  Coast 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxviii,  35-44. 

253 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Range  of  California,*  and  at  commencement  I 
delivered  an  address  on  The  True  Idea  of  a 
University,  which  in  a  modified  and  enlarged 
form  was  published  in  the  Princeton  Review  in 
1880, f  and,  still  further  modified,  in  the  Univer- 
sity Chronicle  in  18994 

In  June  I  went  East  to  spend  my  vacation, 
and  while  in  New  York  consulted  with  Messrs. 
D.  Appleton  and  Company  about  a  work  on  the 
elements  of  geology  that  I  had  begun  to  write. 
Then  I  went  Philadelphia,  staying  with  my 
cousin,  John  L.  Le  Conte,  and  visiting  the  Cen- 
tennial Exposition.  One  circumstance  con- 
nected with  my  visit  I  remember  with  especial 
pleasure.  As  a  critical  examination  of  the  im- 
portant inventions  exhibited  was  impossible  on 
account  of  the  great  crowds  that  usually 
thronged  the  buildings,  it  was  arranged  that  a 
party  of  twenty  scientific  men  should  visit  them 
for  this  purpose  on  a  Sunday.  The  special  pur- 
pose was  the  examination  of  the  newly  invented 
telephones,  particularly  Bell's.  Sir  William 
Thomson,    now   Lord   Kelvin,    Emperor   Dom 

*  Am.  Jour.  Se.,  cxi,  294-304. 

f  The  School,  the  College,  and  the  University.     Princ.  Rev., 
n.  s.,  v,  177-204. 
%  I,  3-19. 

254 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

Pedro  and  the  Empress,  Professor  Barker, 
John  L.  Le  Conte,  and  I  were  among  the  party ; 
and  on  the  several  occasions  since  on  which  I 
have  met  Lord  Kelvin  he  has  spoken  of  his 
pleasure  in  examining  and  testing  Bell's  tele- 
phone at  that  time.  I  need  not  say  how  de- 
lighted I  myself  was  with  this  triumph  of  sci- 
ence. I  understood  it  at  once  and  on  my  return 
to  Berkeley  gave  the  students  and  faculty  of 
the  University  a  lecture  explaining  it. 

The  heat  in  Philadelphia  during  the  exposi- 
tion was  insufferable,  and  as  soon  as  I  could  I 
fled  South  and  joined  my  family  at  Scottsboro, 
the  home  of  my  daughter  Emma.  Here  it  was 
much  cooler,  and  in  an  ideal  Southern  home,  with 
plenty  of  horses  and  vehicles,  surrounded  by 
young  people  whose  hearts  were  full  of  a  joy 
that  continually  burst  forth  in  music,  we  spent 
a  delightful  summer.  We  returned  to  Berkeley 
in  August,  but  my  daughter  Sallie  remained 
with  her  sister  and  in  the  following  January 
was  married  to  Mr.  R.  Means  Davis,  to  whom 
she  had  become  engaged  before  we  left  Co- 
lumbia. 

Having  completed  my  Elements  of  Geology  I 
sent  the  manuscript  to  Appleton  in  1877.  The 
publication  of  it  was  a  serious  undertaking,  but 

255 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

they  decided  to  publish  provided  I  would  super- 
intend the  making  of  the  engravings  and  the 
printing  of  the  book.  I  went  East  in  May,  as 
soon  as  I  could  get  away  from  my  classes,  and 
for  three  months  worked  harder  than  I  ever  had 
in  my  life,  being  occupied  every  day  for  four- 
teen hours  selecting  figures,  directing  the  en- 
gravers, correcting  proofs,  etc.  And  yet  it  was 
a  very  happy  three  months.  By  August  all  was 
done  except  the  final  correction  of  the  page- 
proofs  of  the  last  half,  which  were  sent  to  me 
at  Berkeley.  The  book  came  out  in  January, 
1878,  and  was  successful  far  beyond  my  most 
sanguine  hopes. 

I  have  said  that  my  intellectual  activity  was 
powerfully  stimulated  by  coming  to  California, 
and  have  stated  the  reasons  for  this.  Foremost 
among  these  was  the  fact  that,  contrary  to  my 
expectations,  I  found  here  an  exceptionally 
active,  energetic,  and  intelligent  population. 
What  California  wanted  then,  and  still  to  some 
extent  wants,  was  a  more  thorough  organization 
of  society — an  organized  public  opinion;  con- 
ventions and  traditions,  with  their  wholesome 
restraining  influences  on  the  weak  and  the 
vicious.  But  the  strong  and  the  virtuous  do 
not  need  these ;  are  indeed  perhaps  better  with- 

256 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

out  them.  Family  and  name  have  but  little  in- 
fluence here ;  every  man  must  stand  on  his  own 
merits.  I  confess  I  enjoyed  this  freedom,  and 
was  quite  willing  to  be  judged  in  this  manner. 
I  threw  myself  into  my  work  with  all  my 
energy.  I  enjoyed  teaching,  and  this  made  my 
teaching  correspondingly  interesting  to  my 
students.  I  never  tire  of  my  subject;  though 
I  have  gone  over  my  course  in  geology  nearly 
fifty  times,  I  am  still  as  interested  in  it  as  ever, 
and  though  the  whole  subject  is  perfectly 
familiar  to  me,  never  enter  my  lecture-room 
without  two  hours  of  intense  preparation.  I 
must  revive  my  interest,  must  get  up  steam.  I 
am  firmly  convinced  that  investigation  ought 
not  to  be  separated  from  teaching,  as  many  sup- 
pose; that  not  only  is  one  a  better  teacher  for 
being  an  investigator  but  one  is  a  better  investi- 
gator for  being  a  teacher.  We  never  know  any 
subject  perfectly  until  we  teach  it.  Nothing  so 
clears  up  thought  as  the  earnest  attempt  to  make 
it  clear  to  others  by  direct  personal  address. 
Almost  every  good  thought  I  ever  had  came  first 
into  my  mind  during  the  heat  of  direct  prepara- 
tion for  my  class  lecture.  Nearly  everything  I 
ever  wrote  was  first  given  in  my  class-room  and 
afterward  written  out  and  perfected.  My  text- 
!8  257 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

book,  Elements  of  Geology,  was  simply  the  em- 
bodiment of  my  daily  class  lectures,  but  far  less 
discursive  and  illustrative  and  therefore  far  less 
interesting  than  the  viva  voce  lectures.  What- 
ever success  I  have  attained  in  teaching  has  been 
the  result  of  my  intense  interest  in  my  subject 
and  in  my  students.  The  affectionate  relation 
between  the  students  and  myself  increased  from 
year  to  year  and  my  classes  became  larger  and 
larger  till  it  was  impossible  to  find  a  lecture- 
room  in  the  University  buildings  large  enough 
to  hold  them. 

Meanwhile  the  University  was  growing  in 
resources,  in  complexity  of  structure,  and  in 
numbers.  At  first  its  main  source  of  income 
was  the  Morrill  Fund.  To  this  the  State  added 
from  time  to  time  appropriations  for  buildings 
and  a  large  endowment  from  the  sale  of  tide 
lands,  and  finally  a  small  percentage  of  the 
taxes,  from  which  source  the  amount  received 
increases  of  course  from  year  to  year,  so  that 
the  whole  income  is  now  over  $450,000.  In 
structure  it  was  at  first  little  more  than  the  tra- 
ditional college  curriculum,  with  a  little  agri- 
culture and  civil  engineering  added ;  but  now  it 
has  differentiated  into  nine  colleges:  Letters, 
Social  Sciences,  Natural  Sciences,  Commerce, 

258 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

Agriculture,  Civil  Engineering,  Mechanics, 
Mining,  and  Chemistry.  To  these  must  be 
added  the  Lick  Astronomical  Department,  at 
Mount  Hamilton,  and  the  professional  colleges 
in  San  Francisco;  Medicine,  Law,  Dentistry, 
Pharmacy,  Veterinary  Surgery,  and  Fine  Art. 
The  number  of  students  has  increased  from 
thirty-eight  at  the  beginning  to  twenty-four  hun- 
dred in  the  colleges  at  Berkeley,  and  seven  hun- 
dred in  the  professional  colleges,  or  more  than 
three  thousand  in  all.  The  laboratory  and 
seminar  have  been  introduced  more  and  more 
till  in  the  scientific  departments  these  are  the 
prominent  methods  of  instruction.  At  first  all 
students  were  undergraduates,  but  now  (1901) 
there  are  nearly  two  hundred  post-graduate 
students,  most  of  them  applicants  for  higher  de- 
grees. In  a  word,  at  first  and  for  many  years 
after  its  beginning  the  University  of  California 
was  small  and  apparently  insignificant,  little 
known  even  in  the  State;  now  it  is  one  of  the 
great  universities  of  America. 

The  growth  was  at  first  slow  and  well  with- 
in the  limits  of  its  growing  resources,  but  in 
later  years  the  increase  in  the  number  of  stu- 
dents has  been  so  rapid  as  seriously  to  threaten 
the  efficiency  of  the  work.     The  causes  of  its 

259 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

enormous  growth  are:  First,  the  increasing 
closeness  of  connection  of  the  University  with 
the  schools.  The  whole  educational  system  of 
the  State  is  now  unified,  with  the  University  as 
its  head.  Recommended  graduates  of  over  a 
hundred  secondary  schools  in  the  State,  that 
after  careful  examination  have  been  duly  ac- 
credited, now  pass  into  the  University  without 
examination.  Second,  the  closer  relation  of  the 
University  with  the  industries  of  the  State.  It 
is  now  recognized  as  never  before  that  the  busi- 
ness of  a  university  is  to  prepare  for  leader- 
ship in  all  activities.  A  similar  growth  in  uni- 
versities, a  similar  "  boom "  in  higher  educa- 
tion, has  taken  place  all  over  the  United  States 
for  similar  causes,  but  is  perhaps  more  con- 
spicuous in  California  than  anywhere  else. 

The  successive  presidents  who  have  contrib- 
uted to  this  development  and  guided  its  course 
are  so  well  known  that  I  need  not  dwell  upon 
them  here.  Of  the  many  distinguished  profess- 
ors, I  mention  only  those  who  have  most  in- 
fluenced my  own  mental  development.  Chief 
among  them  was,  of  course,  my  brother  John, 
who  was  to  me  not  only  an  encyclopedia  to  con- 
sult on  all  scientific  facts  but  also  a  sympathetic 
mind  to  discuss  all  scientific  ideas  with.    Be- 

260 


EAELY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

sides  him,  the  most  important  to  me  were  Pro- 
fessors Hilgard,  Moses,  and  Howison;  Profess- 
or Hilgard  for  all  subjects  connected  with  biol- 
ogy and  agricultural  and  geological  chemistry; 
Professor  Moses  for  his  strong  common  sense, 
wholesome  and  practical,  but  also  philosophical 
in  a  practical  way,  and  therefore  in  all  social 
and  political  questions;  Professor  Howison  for 
all  questions  in  philosophy.  I  never  knew  a 
more  acute  thinker  than  the  last;  I  never  knew 
any  one  who  had  so  thoroughly  in  hand  the  whole 
literature  of  philosophy;  I  never  knew  any  one 
who  could  compare  with  him  as  a  dialectician. 
He  and  I  often  discuss  together  many  philo- 
sophical subjects,  but  we  always  approach  them 
from  different  sides,  I  from  below,  the  scien- 
tific, he  from  above,  the  metaphysical.  We 
always  differ  but  are  of  mutual  benefit  and  are 
therefore  the  best  of  friends.  The  Philosophic- 
al Union  established  by  him,  which  is  an  open 
court  for  the  discussion  of  all  philosophical 
questions,  has  been  a  wonderful  stimulus  to  the 
intellectual  activity  of  the  University. 

Another  source  of  stimulus  to  me  must  not 
be  forgotten,  the  Berkeley  Club,  which  was 
founded  by  President  Gilman  and  four  or  five 
others,  of  whom  I  was  one,  in  1873,  while  the 

261 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

University  was  still  in  Oakland.  In  my  opin- 
ion it  is  an  ideal  club. 

Clubs  are  of  two  general  kinds,  intellectual 
and  social.  The  Berkeley  combines  the  best 
features  of  both,  there  being  a  dinner  and  after 
that  a  paper  and  a  general  discussion  thereof. 
Again,  intellectual  clubs  are  of  two  kinds ;  clubs 
of  kindred  spirits,  and  clubs  of  diverse  spirits, 
the  more  diverse  the  better.  This  is  a  club  of 
diverse  spirits. 

One  of  the  great  evils  of  modern  life  and 
modern  education  is  overspecialization,  and  con- 
sequently the  loss  of  sympathy  between  men 
of  different  pursuits.  Society  is  thus  broken 
up  into  intellectual  cliques,  and  is  in  danger  of 
falling  apart  for  want  of  cohesive  sympathy  be- 
tween its  constituent  parts.  Clubs  and  societies 
of  kindred  spirits  only  intensify  this  special- 
ization. "What  we  want  is  clubs  of  diverse  spir- 
its to  mitigate,  if  it  can  not  destroy,  the  evil; 
to  keep  each  man  in  touch  with  all  other  depart- 
ments of  thought.  My  ideal  of  education  would 
be — first  to  make  a  man,  by  as  general  culture 
as  possible;  next,  a  scientific  man,  if  that  were 
the  direction  of  his  specialty,  by  a  greater  con- 
centration on  science,  but  on  all  the  sciences 
alike ;  third,  say  a  geologist,  by  still  greater  con- 

262 


EAELY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

centration  on  general  geology ;  then  at  last  a  spe- 
cialist on  say  mining  geology.  Thus  we  retain, 
to  some  extent,  a  sympathetic  relation  to  all  de- 
partments of  thought.  The  interrelation  of  the 
different  departments  of  thought,  especially  of 
scientific  thought,  is  such  that  a  good  general 
knowledge  of  all  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
highest  success  in  any  one  special  field.  But  in 
spite  of  such  a  broad  foundation,  the  increasing 
stress  of  modern  life  will  too  much  narrow  our 
minds,  unless,  fifth,  we  form  clubs  of  diverse 
spirits  where  we  may  get  directly  and  without 
much  labor  the  best  result  of  thought  in  other 
departments. 

This  was  the  theory  on  which  the  Berkeley 
was  formed.  It  therefore  consists  of  men  of  all 
professions  and  pursuits — scientists,  physi- 
cians, lawyers,  clergymen,  merchants,  business 
men  of  all  kinds,  the  only  condition  being  that 
each  has  the  ability  to  contribute  to  the  intel- 
lectual entertainment  and  good-fellowship.  All 
sorts  of  beliefs  on  political,  social,  and  religious 
subjects  are  compatible  with  membership.  In 
religion,  for  instance,  there  are  in  the  club  all 
grades  of  orthodoxy,  heterodoxy,  and  no  doxy; 
theism,  deism,  pantheism,  materialism,  and 
atheism — all  are  tolerated.    All  these  views  are 

263 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

frankly  but  courteously  expressed,  and  no  one 
takes  offense.  Where  but  in  California  could 
such  a  club  exist? 

This  club  was  an  admirable  means  of  culture 
to  me;  I  myself  contributed  some  twenty  or 
twenty-five  papers,  and  I  discussed  whenever  I 
could  profitably  do  so  the  papers  contributed  by 
others. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  was  also  an  important  element  in  my 
career  here,  but  not  so.  It  had  little  effect  in 
determining  my  scientific  activity.  I  read 
many  papers  there,  to  be  sure,  and  several  of 
them  were  published  in  their  Proceedings,  but  I 
always  reserved  the  right  to  publish  them  else- 
where also.  Only  one  paper,  that  on  the  Car- 
son footprints,  to  which  reference  will  be  made 
later,  was  published  by  the  Academy  alone ;  and 
I  regretted  that  I  did  not  publish  this  elsewhere, 
for  its  appearance  was  so  delayed  that  I  was 
deprived  of  credit  that  properly  belonged  to 
me.  In  the  early  days,  about  the  time  that  I 
came  to  California,  under  the  presidency  of  J. 
D.  Whitney,  the  Academy  was  prosperous  and 
held  a  high  position  among  the  scientific  insti- 
tutions of  our  country;  but  from  that  time,  be- 
cause of  internal  dissensions,  it  dropped  lower 

264 


EARLY   YEARS   IN   CALIFORNIA 

and  lower.  Recently,  however,  it  has  begun  to 
revive,  and  is  likely  again  to  become  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  scientific  progress  of  the 
State. 

So  far  as  churches  are  concerned,  I  could 
never  take  a  very  active  part  in  any,  because  it 
seems  to  me  that  they  are  all  too  narrow  in 
their  views.  But  recognizing  as  I  do  that  they 
represent  the  most  important  of  all  human  in- 
terests, I  have  always  very  cordially  supported 
them  all.  The  Congregationalists  were  the  first 
in  the  field  when  I  came  to  Berkeley,  and  I 
helped  most  heartily  to  build  them  up.  Next 
came  the  Episcopalians,  and  I  helped  the  vener- 
able and  noble  Dr.  Wheat  found  this  church, 
and  afterward  contributed  toward  its  support. 
Of  this  church  one  of  my  daughters  became  a 
member.  The  next  church  to  be  established  was 
the  Presbyterian,  of  which  Mrs.  Le  Conte  and  I 
are  members.  Later  the  Unitarians  organized 
a  church,  and  I  helped  to  found  and  support  it. 
To  the  support  of  three  of  these  churches  I  now 
contribute,  and  I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  sup- 
port them  all.  Sectarian  differences  are  noth- 
ing to  me. 


265 


CHAPTER   XI 

SCIENTIFIC    AND    PHILOSOPHICAL    PAPERS,    AND 

SUMMER   EXCURSIONS;   TO   1887 

Returning  to  the  account  of  my  scientific 
activity,  in  1877  I  wrote  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  my  papers,  On  Critical  Periods  in  the 
History  of  the  Earth  and  their  Relation  to  Evo- 
lution; and  On  the  Quaternary  as  Such  a 
Period.*  The  idea  contained  in  this  paper  had 
been  germinating  for  several  years  in  my  mind, 
and  has  ever  since  continued  to  develop  there. 
It  has  been  reembodied  and  expanded  in  several 
successive  papers.  It  is  given  in  outline  in  my 
Elements  of  Geology, f  but  in  my  classes  I  gave 
it  much  more  fully,  and  with  increasing  fulness 
in  successive  years.  In  the  same  year  appeared 
my  first  paper  on  Some  Thoughts  on  the  Gly- 
cogenic Function  of  the  Liver  and  its  Relation 
to  Vital  Force  and  Vital  Heat4    This  also  had 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxiv,  99-114.  '       f  Pp.  594-600. 

%  Am.  Jour.  Sc.  csv,  99-107. 

266 


SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS 

lain  and  grown  in  my  mind,  and  was  expanded 
in  subsequent  publications,  being  finally,  but 
briefly,  stated  in  my  latest  volume,  Comparative 
Physiology  and  Morphology  of  Animals,  pub- 
lished in  January,  1900.  The  idea,  if  true,  and 
I  believe  it  is,  is  certainly  of  far-reaching  im- 
portance in  the  theory  of  metabolism. 

Captain  Dutton,  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  wrote  an  able  paper  criticizing 
my  theory  of  mountain  formation  and  especially 
combating  every  form  of  the  so-called  "  contrac- 
tional  theory."  In  1878  I  therefore  wrote  a 
somewhat  elaborate  paper,  On  the  Structure 
and  Origin  of  Mountains,  with  Special  Refer- 
ence to  the  "  Contractional  Theory,"  *  in  which 
I  more  fully  explained  my  views  on  that  subject. 
I  wrote  several  other  papers  in  that  year,  but 
these  were  philosophical  rather  than  scientific 
and  will  be  spoken  of  later. 

In  the  summer  of  1878  I  took  my  usual  relax- 
ation by  a  camping  trip  to  the  Yosemite,  but  as 
this  time  my  wife  and  children  accompanied  me 
that  they  too  might  enjoy  camp  life  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  grand  scenery  of  the  valley,  we 
traveled  much  more  comfortably  than  I  usually 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxvi,  95-112. 

267 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

did.  Including  a  girl  friend  of  my  daughter's, 
Captain  Greenough,  then  Commandant  of  the 
University  Cadets,  Mr.  Charles  Butters,  a  stu- 
dent who  acted  as  driver,  and  our  Chinese  cook, 
our  party  numbered  eight.  Captain  Greenough 
and  I  rode  horseback  and  the  rest  of  the  party 
traveled  in  a  fine  wagon  made  expressly  for 
camping.  "We  were  gone  five  weeks  and  visited 
the  Calaveras  grove  of  Big  Trees  in  addition 
to  the  Yosemite. 

The  following  summer  also  I  devoted  to  my 
wife's  recreation,  visiting  Oregon,  Washington, 
and  British  Columbia  on  invitation  of  Mr. 
George  Ainsworth,  a  graduate  of  the  class  of 
1873  and  later  a  regent  of  the  University,  who 
thought  he  could  not  do  too  much  for  his  old 
professor.  His  father  owned  the  steamboats 
on  the  Columbia,  and  we  were  guests  on  one  of 
them  for  a  week,  going  up  and  down  the  river 
every  day.  The  scenery  of  the  Columbia  is 
celebrated,  and  is  to  my  mind  finer  than  that  of 
the  famous  Hudson  or  that  of  the  still  more 
famous  Rhine  or  that  of  any  other  river  that 
I  have  ever  seen.  The  week  was  surely  one 
of  the  most  delightful  I  ever  spent.  Then  we 
went  on  to  Puget  Sound  and  saw  the  glory  of 
Mount  Rainier  and  the  Olympian  Range,  Mr. 

268 


SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS 

Ainsworth  still  considering  us  his  guests  and 
furnishing  us  passes  everywhere.  From  Vic- 
toria we  went  through  the  Gulf  of  Georgia  with 
its  thousand  islands  and  up  the  Fraser  River  to 
Yale,  the  head  of  navigation.  The  scenery  of 
this  river  is  almost  as  fine  as  that  of  the  Colum- 
bia, if  indeed  it  is  not  in  some  respects  finer.  On 
our  way  back  to  Portland,  we  stayed  for  several 
days  at  Tacoma,  and  I  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  to  examine  the  coal-fields  at  Car- 
bon River.  Surely  these  are  very  fine,  and  their 
discovery  is  of  great  importance  to  the  Pacific 
Coast.  They  seem  to  me  to  belong  to  the  same 
age,  the  Laramie,  or  perhaps  the  Tejon,  as  those 
near  Seattle,  which  I  had  examined  in  1871. 

The  year  1880  was  a  very  active  one  in  scien- 
tific work.  I  wrote  a  second  paper  on  glycogen 
and  its  relation  to  katabolic  processes  *  and  one 
on  The  Old  River-Beds  of  California.-)-  The 
latter  was  the  result  of  observations  made  dur- 
ing a  visit  of  about  two  weeks  at  the  Blue  Tent 
hydraulic  mine  as  the  guest  of  the  superintend- 
ent. In  his  company  I  visited  all  the  hydraulic 
mines  on  both  sides  of  the  Yuba  River.    It  was 

*  Some  Thoughts  on  the  Glycogenic  Function  of  the  Liver. 
II.  Disposal  of  Waste.     Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxix,  25-29. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Sc.,  cxix,  17G-190. 

269 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

at  this  time  that  the  important  idea  of  a  great 
elevation  and  rejuvenation  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada at  the  end  of  the  Tertiary  first  occurred  to 
me.  I  had  previously  visited  another  mine  that 
occupied  an  old  river-bed,  but  the  idea  had  not 
at  that  time  dawned  on  me. 

During  this  same  year  I  also  wrote  a  paper 
on  The  Genesis  of  Sex,  which  was  published  in 
the  Popular  Science  Monthly  *  and  reprinted  in 
the  Revue  Scientinque,f  of  Paris;  one  on  The 
Effect  of  Mixture  of  Races  on  Human  Progress, 
published  in  the  Berkeley  Quarterly;:}:  and  one 
on  Laws  of  Ocular  Motion,  published  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science.*  In  the  last  I 
took  issue  with  Helmholtz  on  this  difficult  sub- 
ject and  showed  that  his  views  are  not  only 
wrong  but  self-contradictory. 

In  the  same  year,  moreover,  I  wrote  my 
book  on  Sight,  which  was  published  as  a  volume 
in  the  International  Scientific  Series,  and  dur- 
ing the  summer  went  to  New  York  to  supervise 
its  publication.  That  done  I  joined  my  wife 
and  children,  who  were  visiting  my  daughters  in 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  stayed  with 
them   for   several   weeks.     In   the   vicinity   of 

*  XVI,  167-179.  %  I,  81-104. 

f  T.  xxv  (sec.  ser.,  t,  xviii),  1880,  770-771.  *  CXX,  88-93. 

270 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

Winnsboro  I  was  shown  what  were  supposed  to 
be  glacier-borne  boulders,  but  which  I  found  to 
be,  as  I  had  suspected,  splendid  specimens  of 
boulders  of  disintegration.  After  a  delightful 
summer  we  returned  to  Berkeley  in  August. 

I  made  no  long  trip  during  the  summer  of 
1881  because  I  was  superintending  the  build- 
ing of  a  house  that  was  to  serve  us  as  a  home  in 
place  of  the  uncomfortable  university  cottage 
in  which  we  had  been  living  since  our  removal 
to  Berkeley.  With  Professor  Rising,  professor 
of  chemistry  in  the  University,  I  made  a  trip 
of  ten  days  to  Sulphur  Bank  to  reexamine 
under  more  favorable  circumstances  the  cinna- 
bar deposits  there.  As  mineral  vein  formation 
seemed  to  be  going  on  here  under  our  very  eyes, 
I  had  for  several  years  been  extremely  inter- 
ested in  this  place,  and  had  visited  it  four  times 
previously.  Heretofore  there  had  been  only 
superficial  openings  from  above,  but  now  a 
shaft  had  been  sunk  and  a  drift  run,  and  the 
true  vein  struck  at  the  depth  of  260  feet.  It  was 
a  perfect  example  of  a  brecciated  vein,  a  mere 
breccia  of  country  rock  cemented  with  silica  and 
cinnabar.  The  evidence  of  the  process  of  fill- 
ing now  going  on  is  complete.  In  connection 
with  Professor  Rising,  who  had  first  taken  me 

271 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

to  the  place,  I  wrote  a  paper  proving  that  the 
process  is  still  in  progress  and  giving  the  prob- 
able chemical  reactions.  Though  written  in 
1881,  this  was  published  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Science  in  July  of  the  following 
year.* 

In  the  summer  of  1882  we  again  made  a 
camping  trip  to  the  Yosemite,  partly  for  the 
benefit  of  my  daughter  Emma  and  my  cousin 
Jack  Le  Conte,  who  had  come  to  us  from  the 
East  broken  down  in  health.  Our  party  num- 
bered eight,  of  whom  seven  went  in  a  coach-and- 
four  that  we  hired,  while  Professor  O'Neill,  of 
the  department  of  chemistry  of  the  University, 
rode  on  horseback.  We  camped  all  the  way  to 
the  valley  and  back,  and  the  six  weeks  in  the 
open  air  did  the  invalids  a  great  deal  of  good. 
My  daughter  was  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight  ail  the 
time,  the  exhilarating  mountain  scenery  and 
mountain  air  seeming  to  renew  her  youth  in  a 
wonderful  way.  Jack  and  his  father,  John  L. 
Le  Conte,  who  had  accompanied  him  to  Cali- 
fornia, enjoyed  the  trip  greatly,  and  the  life  of 
the  former  was  undoubtedly  prolonged  by  it. 

*  The  Phenomena  of  Metalliferous  Vein-formation  now  in 
Progress  at  Sulphur  Bank,  California.  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxsiv, 
23-33. 

272 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

For  my  own  part,  I  think  I  enjoyed  the  valley 
more,  if  possible,  on  this  trip  than  ever  before. 
There  are  two  kinds  of  enjoyment  of  scenery, 
as  of  everything  else.  The  one  is  the  enjoy- 
ment of  beauty  and  grandeur,  heightened  by 
novelty;  the  other  is  the  enjoyment  of  the  same 
mellowed  and  hallowed  by  association.  The 
one  affects  more  the  imagination,  the  other  the 
heart.  I  had  been  in  the  Yosemite  so  often  that 
I  now  loved  it  for  its  association  with  previous 
delights. 

While  I  was  in  the  valley  there  reached  me 
strange  accounts  of  the  wonderful  footprints  of 
man  and  animals  that  had  been  discovered  in 
the  prison-yard  at  Carson,  Nevada;  and  I  was 
urged  to  examine  them.  As  I  was  anxious  also 
to  visit  the  Steamboat  Springs,  where  mineral 
vein  formation  was  said  to  be  still  going  on,  im- 
mediately after  my  return  from  the  Yosemite  I 
went  to  Nevada  with  Professor  Rising.  First 
we  went  to  the  springs,  where  we  stayed  sev- 
eral days  and  found  quartz  veins  containing  me- 
tallic sulfides,  and  even  gold  in  very  small 
quantities,  being  formed  from  the  hot  alkaline 
waters.  We  then  proceeded  to  Carson  and 
examined  carefully  the  wonderful  footprints. 
The  prison  is  built  of  the  sandstone  on  which  it 
19  273 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

stands,  and  over  an  area  of  two  or  three  acres 
in  the  prison  yard  the  horizontal  stone  is  liter- 
ally covered  with  thousands  of  tracks  of  birds 
and  several  kinds  of  mammals,  both  hoofed  and 
clawed.  Among  the  tracks  of  animals  the  most 
conspicuous  and  interesting  were  a  whole  series 
of  those  of  the  mammoth  and  several  long  series 
most  singularly  man-like  in  form,  but  of  far 
greater  dimensions;  each  track  being  eighteen 
inches  in  length  and  eight  in  width,  the  distance 
between  the  right  and  the  left  series  some 
twenty  inches,  and  the  stride  at  least  a  yard. 
As  the  exposed  tracks  were  somewhat  worn,  we 
set  the  prisoners  at  work  blasting,  and  uncov- 
ered some  very  fine  ones  both  of  the  mammoth 
and  of  those  resembling  the  tracks  of  man. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  of  their  genuineness. 
Several  papers  were  written  on  these  tracks  and 
read  before  the  California  Academy  of  Sciences, 
one  by  Professor  Harkness,  one  by  Mr.  Gibbs, 
and  one  by  myself.  Professor  Harkness  thought 
the  man-like  tracks  were  actually  those  of  man, 
while  I  thought  they  were  those  of  a  ground- 
sloth,  Mylodon  or  Morotherium,  a  view  that  sub- 
sequent investigations  have  tended  to  confirm. 
The  strata,  although  quite  lithified,  are  certainly 
either  latest  Pliocene  or  early  Quaternary,  prob- 

274 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

ably  the  latter.  The  process  of  lithifieation  by 
carbonated  springs  is  still  going  on. 

While  here  I  was  greatly  interested  in  ob- 
serving the  criminals.  They  enjoyed  the  inves- 
tigation intensely  and  worked  very  intelligently. 
We  entirely  forgot  that  they  were  criminals, 
and  some  of  them  murderers,  and  all  worked  to- 
gether with  interest.  For  all  that  we  could  see 
they  were  much  like  average  men,  neither 
better  nor  worse,  and  for  the  time  we  were  com- 
panions. The  effect  of  the  work  and  their  in- 
terest in  it  was  wonderful ;  before  dull  and  sul- 
len, they  became  bright,  eager,  cheerful,  and 
happy.  What  a  reformatory  measure  such 
work  would  be  if  it  could  be  continued  indefi- 
nitely ! 

From  Carson  we  went  southward  to  exam- 
ine the  deposits  in  the  dried  up  lakes  about 
Candelaria — Teil's  marsh,  Rhodes's  marsh,  Co- 
lumbia marsh,  etc.  By  chemical  processes  of 
great  complexity  and  interest  a  variety  of  salts 
are  deposited  here  in  great  abundance,  the  prin- 
cipal ones  being  soda  borate,  lime-soda  borate, 
lime  carbonate,  soda  carbonate,  soda  sulfate, 
and  sodium  chloride.  The  modes  of  occur- 
rence of  the  borates  are  especially  curious. 
The  tincal  (native  borax),  in  the  form  of  crys- 

275 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tals  as  large  as  hickory-nuts,  is  dug  out  of  the 
mud  in  great  quantities,  as  ground  peas  are  dug 
out  of  the  earth.  The  soda-lime  borate  ulexite 
occurs  as  irregular  balls,  rough  on  the  outside, 
but  found  on  breaking  to  consist  entirely  of 
white,  silky,  radiating  annular  crystals.  These 
balls  are  dug  out  of  the  ground  much  as  are 
potatoes,  which  indeed  they  greatly  resemble  in 
form  and  color.  Though  the  subject  is  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  one,  I  did  not  write  a  paper 
on  it,  partly  because  it  is  a  strictly  chemical  one, 
but  mainly  because  my  investigations  were  too 
incomplete. 

My  paper  on  the  Steamboat  Springs  was 
published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Science 
in  1883,*  and  was  followed  in  July  of  the  same 
year  by  a  general  one,  On  the  Genesis  of  Metal- 
liferous Veins. f  The  paper  on  the  Carson  foot- 
prints was  read  before  the  California  Academy 
of  Sciences  in  August,  1882,  and  the  manuscript 
given  to  the  Committee  on  Publication ;%  but  its 
appearance  was  delayed  until  some  time  in  the 
following  year,  and  in  the  meantime  Professor 

*  On  Mineral  Vein  Formation  now  in  Progress  at  Steamboat 
Springs  Compared  with  the  Same  at  Sulphur  Bank.  Am.  Jour. 
Sc,  cxxv,  424-426. 

f  Am.  Jour.  Sc.,  cxxvi,  1-19. 

%  Proc.  Cal.  Acad.  Sc,  Aug.  27,  1882,  1-10. 

276 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

Marsh  and  others  had  visited  the  prison  and 
published  the  results  of  their  observations. 

The  summer  vacation  of  1883  I  spent  with 
my  family  visiting  my  wife's  brother  at  San 
Bernardino,  Cal.  During  most  of  our  stay  we 
were  in  camp  in  the  mountains,  and  I  made  some 
very  important  observations  on  the  effect  of  the 
rejuvenation  of  the  Sierra  at  the  end  of  the 
Tertiary  on  the  river-beds  of  this  region  as 
compared  with  its  effect  in  the  region  of  the 
lava  flows  in  middle  California,  and  the  reverse 
relation  of  the  old  and  new  river-beds  in  the  two 
regions.  These  observations,  with  those  previ- 
ously made,  were  embodied  in  an  important 
paper  entitled  A  Post-Tertiary  Elevation  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  Shown  by  the  River-beds.*  In 
all  my  subsequent  writings  I  refer  to  this  as 
"  the  rejuvenation  of  the  Sierra  Nevada."  This 
paper,  although  its  substance  was  given  in  my 
class  lectures  in  1883  and  ever  afterward,  was 
not  published  until  1886. 

In  1884  I  went  to  New  York  and  superin- 
tended the  publication  of  my  Compend  of  Geol- 
ogy, for  the  use  of  high  schools;  and  then 
joined  my  family  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina, 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxxxii,  167-181. 

277 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

where  my  son-in-law,  Mr.  Davis,  was  a  professor 
in  the  University.  He  lived  in  the  honse  that  I 
occupied  when  there,  and  it  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  me  to  be  once  more  in  my  old  home  and  to 
meet  again  those  of  my  old  friends  who  still  re- 
mained. After  visiting  Scottsboro  to  see  my 
daughter  Emma,  who  had  been  left  a  widow  the 
previous  year,  and  to  Macon,  my  old  home,  we 
returned  to  Berkeley  for  the  opening  of  the  Uni- 
versity in  August. 

During  1884  and  1885  I  wrote  many  papers, 
but  as  they  were  short,  they  may  be  passed 
over  without  particular  mention.  In  June, 
1885,  I  received  from  Captain  Dutton,  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  an  invitation 
to  join  him  in  his  summer  camp  in  northern 
California  and  Oregon,  and  was  delighted  to  ac- 
cept. I  met  him  at  Mount  Shasta,  and  we  were 
together  for  two  months  and  a  half.  But  on 
account  of  some  delay  in  receiving  the  necessary 
funds  nearly  half  of  this  time  was  spent  in  camp 
at  Sisson's,  a  good  illustration  of  the  necessary 
waste  in  government  methods.  The  time  was 
not  wholly  wasted,  however,  for  we  took  daily 
rides  to  explore  the  country  and  made  a  trip  of 
four  days  around  Mount  Shasta,  enjoying  the 
splendid  view  of  the  mountain  from  the  east 

278 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

and  observing  the  five  glaciers  still  living  on  its 
slopes  and  the  characteristic  milkiness  of  the 
water  of  the  streams  issuing  from  their  snouts. 

The  money  having  at  last  arrived,  we  took 
regretful  leave  of  the  kind  friends  we  had  met 
at  Sisson's,  who  had  done  much  to  relieve  the 
tedium  of  our  waiting,  and  started  on  our  way 
northward  to  examine  the  great  lava  flow  and 
especially  to  visit  Crater  Lake.  On  our  way  to 
Yreka  we  saw  a  splendid  example  of  noncon- 
formity, heavy-bedded,  horizontal  strata  of  cre- 
taceous sandstone  lying  on  the  beveled  edges  of 
highly  inclined  Jurassic  slates.  After  a  day  in 
Yreka,  we  went  along  the  Klamath  River  to 
Shovel  Springs  and  camped  there.  These  are 
quite  celebrated  mud-baths,  supposed  to  be  very 
curative  and  therefore  resorted  to  by  the  lame, 
the  halt,  the  blind,  the  rheumatic,  and  the  con- 
sumptive. Here  we  first  encountered  the  great 
lava  plateau,  through  which  the  Klamath  cuts, 
forming  a  canon  two  thousand  feet  deep. 

As  we  climbed  the  side  of  the  gorge  next 
morning  to  reach  the  plateau,  the  scene  was 
magnificent,  the  bright  sun  shining  on  the  fog, 
which  filled  the  valleys  but  left  exposed  the 
peaks  and  ridges,  producing  the  most  beautiful 
effects.    Later  the  fog-mantle  was  lifted  grad- 

279 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ually  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  drifted  away 
on  a  gentle  wind,  till  the  whole  scene  was 
flooded  with  sunlight  and  the  river  boiling  and 
foaming  two  thousand  feet  below  was  plainly 
visible. 

For  three  days  we  rode  on  the  top  of  this 
great  lava  table-land  without  crossing  a  single 
stream,  so  for  water  depended  on  the  rare 
springs  whose  positions  in  subordinate  ravines 
were  known  to  the  guides.  What  becomes  of 
all  the  rain  that  falls  in  this  region?  When  we 
reached  Klamath  Lake  we  found  out.  This 
lake  occupies  a  great  sink  in  the  lava-field, 
probably  a  sunken  earth-crust  block;  the  rain- 
fall sinks  in  the  lava  till  it  reaches  an  im- 
permeable stratum,  probably  the  surface  on 
which  the  lava  was  originally  outpoured,  then 
works  out  around  the  margin  of  the  lake  as 
great  springs,  the  sources  of  rivers  of  consider- 
able size.  Where  these  enter  the  lake  there 
are  small  bays  with  deep  water  to  the  very 
shore,  and  here  the  little  steamers  that  ply  on 
the  lake  take  the  logs  delivered  by  the  logging 
teams.  As  the  lake  is  surrounded  by  exten- 
sive marshes,  were  it  not  for  these  springs 
there  could  be  no  commerce  on  it  except  by 
building  long  and  expensive  moles.     I  had  fe- 

280 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

licitated  myself  all  along  on  having  delightful 
swimming  in  the  lake,  but  a  single  plunge  in 
one  of  these  springs  was  enough,  for  while  the 
water  of  the  lake  itself  is  warm  that  in  the 
springs  is  ice-cold.  In  all  my  experience  I 
never  saw  such  beautiful  camping  grounds  as 
we  found  on  the  western  side  of  Klamath  Lake, 
especially  as  we  approached  the  northern  end; 
great  trees,  placed  as  in  a  park,  spread  their 
branches  overhead  and  the  grass  was  almost 
knee-deep. 

After  camping  one  night  at  Fort  Klamath 
and  making  many  pleasant  acquaintances  with 
the  officers,  we  continued  on  our  way  to  Crater 
Lake.  The  lava  in  this  region  we  observed  is 
quite  different  from  that  of  the  lava  table,  being 
rhyolitic  instead  of  basaltic.  It  is  probably 
local,  from  "  Mount  Mazama."  On  the  slopes 
going  up  toward  the  lake  the  streams  have  cut 
precipitous  canons  a  thousand  feet  deep  in  this 
whitish  tufaceous  material.  Having  camped 
overnight  five  miles  from  the  lake,  we  easily 
reached  it  the  next  day  before  noon.  The  crater 
is  unseen  until  one  stands  on  its  very  brink, 
when  the  whole  wonderful  view  bursts  upon 
one ;  the  great  crater,  eighteen  hundred  feet  deep 
and  seven  miles  across,  the  exquisite  lake  with 

281 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

its  pure  ultramarine  waters,  the  lofty  mountains 
that  surround  it — surely  the  whole  forms  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  and  beautiful  views  in 
the  world!  After  gazing  in  rapture  for  half 
an  hour  or  more,  we  made  our  camp  on  a  carpet 
of  moss  and  flowers  in  a  beautiful  grove  of  Wil- 
liamson's spruce. 

We  were-the  first  scientific  party  that  ever 
visited  the  lake.  The  next  summer  it  was 
/visited  again  by  Captain  Button  and  somewhat 
later  by  J.  S.  Diller.  The  general  explanation 
was  evident  at  once,  and  their  investigations 
made  out  with  certainty  the  mode  of  formation 
of  this  wonderful  crater  and  lake.  The  explana- 
tion can  be  given  most  clearly  by  a  brief  history 
of  the  lake.  Immediately  before,  or  perhaps 
during,  the  glacial  epoch,  there  existed  here  a 
very  great  volcanic  mountain,  which  has  been 
given  the  name  Mount  Mazama.  Some  time  in 
the  glacial  epoch  a  great  eruption  blew  off  the 
top  of  this  and  scattered  it  far  and  wide,  leav- 
ing a  yawning  chasm  seven  miles  wide  and 
nearly  four  thousand  feet  deep,  which  later 
was  filled  with  water  to  the  depth  of  two  thou- 
sand feet,  leaving  a  rim  eighteen  hundred  feet 
high.  By  a  subsequent  eruption  a  small  crater 
and  cone  were  built  about   six  hundred  feet 

282 


SUMMER  EXCURSIONS 

above  the  water-level,  and  these  form  Wizard's 
Island. 

After  camping  three  days  in  this  delightful 
place,  I  took  regretful  leave  of  the  party  to  re- 
turn to  my  duties  at  the  University.  The  guide 
went  with  me,  partly  to  show  me  the  way,  partly 
to  procure  provisions  for  the  party.  I  was 
greatly  struck  and  amused  with  the  difference 
in  the  behavior  of  my  mule  going  and  return- 
ing. Soon  after  leaving  Shasta  I  had  observed 
that  she  was  a  beast  of  conscientious  character 
and  immovable  principles,  absolutely  refusing 
to  ride  abreast  with  the  captain  but  insisting 
on  following.  As  this  not  only  made  it  impos- 
sible to  converse  but  interfered  greatly  with 
rapid  riding,  I  whipped  her  until  my  arms 
ached  and  spurred  her  until  her  sides  were 
bloody,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  With  every 
plunge  of  the  spur  there  was  a  slight  start,  for 
the  flesh  is  weak,  but  no  change  of  purpose. 
She  did  not  resent,  seeming  to  think  that  I  was  a 
dispensation  of  Providence  that  must  be  borne 
with  meek  resignation,  Satan  sent  to  buffet  her 
for  a  season ;  but  her  power  to  bear  was  greater 
than  mine  to  afflict.  But  now  for  the  first  time 
I  learned  the  reason  of  her  obstinacy;  she  evi- 
dently acknowledged  the  superiority,  the  head- 

283 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ship,  of  the  horse  that  Captain  Dutton  was  rid- 
ing. She  knew  her  place ;  it  was  unbecoming  in 
her  to  walk  beside  her  lord  and  master.  As  the 
guide,  however,  was  also  mounted  on  a  mule, 
she  made  no  objection  to  riding  abreast  and 
often,  indeed,  took  the  lead.  We  traveled 
rapidly,  therefore,  making  twenty-two  miles  the 
first  afternoon  in  less  than  five  hours. 

I  had  before  this  noticed  the  curious  fact 
that  with  a  large  number  of  mules  a  bell-mare  is 
necessary,  which  the  mules  follow  precisely  as 
colts  would.  Is  this  the  result  of  the  retention 
of  the  colt  instinct  in  the  sexless  mules'?  In 
horses  the  arising  of  the  sex  instinct  destroys 
the  colt  instinct;  mules  do  not  lose  the  colt  in- 
stinct. 

On  the  way  back  I  noticed  in  the  deep 
canons  on  the  western  slope  of  Mount  Mazama 
remnants  of  the  steep  walls  left  standing  out 
like  castellated  pinnacles,  sometimes  five  hun- 
dred feet  high  and  not  over  twenty  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  base,  evidently  harder  parts  left 
by  erosion.  From  them  the  water-course  re- 
ceives the  name  Castle  Creek.  On  our  way  we 
rode  continuously  for  thirty  miles  through  the 
most  frightful  burnt  forest  I  ever  saw.  The 
firs  stood  as  thick  as  possible,  every  tree  from 

284 


SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS 

two  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high, 
but  all  was  a  mere  blackened  desert ;  we  saw  not 
one  living  thing.  It  was  one  of  the  saddest  of 
sights.  After  riding  for  several  days  we 
reached  the  railroad  at  Medf  ord,  and  I  returned 
home,  having  ridden  about  five  hundred  miles. 

I  at  once  commenced  embodying  my  views 
on  the  post-Tertiary  elevation  of  the  Sierra  in 
a  paper.  The  idea  was  really  contained,  but  im- 
perfectly, in  my  paper  on  old  river-beds,  already 
referred  to  as  having  been  published  in  1879.* 
The  paper  with  the  complete  idea  was  finished 
in  1885,  and  read  before  the  National  Academy 
in  April,  1886,  but  its  publication  was  delayed 
through  no  fault  of  mine  until  the  summer.f 
Meanwhile  J.  S.  Diller  was  writing  on  the  same 
subject  and  his  paper  was  published  a  month 
before  mine.  Who  should  claim  the  credit?  I 
neither  know  nor  care. 

But  here  I  must  stop  to  say  something  of 
my  intellectual  history  in  other  lines  than  sci- 
ence. Until  I  was  thirty  I  could  not  have  said 
whether  my  tastes  were  more  in  the  direction 
of  science  or  of  art  and  literature  or  of  philos- 

*  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxix,  176-190. 

f  A  Post-Tertiary  Elevation  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Shown  by 
the  River-beds.     Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxxxii,  1G7-181. 

285 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ophy.  Circumstances  turned  me  mainly  in  the 
direction  of  science,  but  I  could  never  be  a  spe- 
cialist in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term,  My 
writings  and  my  thoughts,  like  my  education, 
have  been  in  many  directions.  In  some  respects 
this  may  have  been  a  disadvantage  in  my  career, 
for  more  and  more  in  these  modern  times  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  concentrate  on  special  lines ; 
but  it  has  its  advantages  also,  and  I  do  not 
regret  it,  for  work  in  the  higher  regions  of 
thought  is  not  possible  without  a  wide  outlook 
that  enables  one  to  perceive  its  relations  to  other 
departments. 

Soon  after  coming  to  California,  in  addi- 
tion to  recasting  into  more  popular  form  a  num- 
ber of  early  articles,  I  wrote  a  series  of  papers 
on  evolution  that  in  substance  were  later  em- 
bodied in  my  book,  Evolution  and  its  Relations 
to  Religious  Thought.  The  subject  of  evolu- 
tion, because  it  unites  science  and  philosophy, 
was  always  especially  attractive  to  me.  As  al- 
ready stated,  the  reading  of  The  Vestiges  of  the 
Natural  History  of  Creation,  which  advocated 
the  derivative  origin  of  species,  formed  an 
epoch  in  my  intellectual  history,  though  I  was 
not  prepared  to  embrace  its  views.  Later  I 
rear  and  reread  with  enthusiasm  Owen's  Arche- 

286 


PHILOSOPHICAL  PAPERS 

type  and  Homologies  of  the  Vertebrate  Sys- 
tem, and  found  the  idea  of  law  and  correspond- 
ence running  through  all  the  infinitely  diversi- 
fied forms  of  nature  a  grand  and  captivating 
one.  Though  he  bitterly  repudiated  evolution, 
my  studies  with  Agassiz  led  me  strongly  in 
that  direction,  for,  as  I  show  in  my  book,  he  laid 
the  whole  foundation  of  evolution  in  his  grand 
laws  of  succession  of  organic  forms  in  the  geo- 
logical history  of  the  earth.  Then  in  Athens, 
when  I  was  about  thirty,  I  fell  in  with  Comte's 
Positive  Philosophy,  and  Whewell's  History  of 
the  Inductive  Sciences,  and  Philosophy  of  the 
Inductive  Sciences,  which  was  also  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  my  thought-life.  Later  I  read 
many  clistinctly  philosophical  works,  those  of 
Sir  "William  Hamilton,  Cudworth,  Paulsen,  and 
Spencer,  for  instance,  and  dipped  into  many 
others,  among  them  the  works  of  Kant,  Fichte, 
Hegel,  and  Berkeley.  But  I  can  not  say  that  I 
ever  mastered  the  technology  of  philosophy, 
which  indeed  repelled  me;  and  whatever  philo- 
sophic thinking  I  have  done  has  been  wholly 
from  the  standpoint  of  science.  Yet  some  of 
my  dearest  and  most  valued  friends  think  that 
my  reputation  hereafter  will  be  more  philo- 
sophic than  scientific.    It  may  be  so,  for  even  my 

287 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

science  is  not  special  in  the  narrow  sense,  but 
is  rather  a  sort  of  philosophic  science,  dealing 
mainly  with  larger  questions.  The  domains  of 
science  and  philosophy  are  not  separated  by 
hard  and  fast  lines;  they  largely  overlap;  and 
it  is  in  this  border  land  that  I  love  to  dwell. 

Brief  reference  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  an 
article  on  Plato's  Doctrine  of  the  Soul,  and  Ar- 
gument for  Immortality,  in  Comparison  with  the 
Doctrine  and  Argument  Derived  from  the  Study 
of  Nature,  published  by  the  Philosophical  Union 
of  the  University,*  and  several  articles  in  the 
Princeton  Review,  among  them  The  Psychical 
Relation  of  Man  to  Animals  f  (later  modified 
and  published  in  the  Monist  $),  and  Illustrations 
of  a  Law  of  Evolution  of  Thought  f  but  my 
book,  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious 
Thought,  is  more  important,  and  the  circum- 
stances that  led  me  to  undertake  it  may  prove 
interesting. 

In  the  spring  of  1885  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  having  declared  himself  an  evolution- 
ist, came  to  California  to  lecture  on  the  sub- 
ject. My  friend  and  neighbor,  Mr  Sherman 
Day,  son  of  President  Jeremiah  Day  of  Yale, 

*  VIII,  1-19.  %  VI,  356-381. 

.      f  N.  S.,  xiii,  236-261.  *  N.  S.,  viii,  373-393. 

288 


PHILOSOPHICAL  PAPEKS 

knowing  that  I  had  written  a  number  of  papers 
on  evolution  asked  me  for  copies  that  he  might 
give  them  to  Mr.  Beecher,  whom  he  knew  well 
but  whom  I  had  not  then  met.  On  leaving  Cali- 
fornia Mr.  Beecher  sent  me  a  letter  urging  me 
to  write  a  book  on  the  subject,  saying,  indeed, 
that  I  owed  it  to  the  world.  I  had  often  thought 
of  doing  so,  but  shrank  from  the  task,  partly  be- 
cause I  feared  that  the  church  was  not  ready 
to  be  profited  by  such  a  book  and  partly  be- 
cause it  would  absorb  too  much  of  my  time. 
But  this  letter  of  Mr.  Beecher  determined  me, 
and  I  commenced  the  work  in  the  fall  of  1885. 
A  rough  draft  was  already  written  when  I  was 
interrupted  by  an  urgent  request  to  write  for 
the  Longfellow  Memorial  Association  of  the 
University  the  first  of  a  series  of  papers  by  dif- 
ferent professors  on  various  phases  and  epochs 
of  art.  The  subject  assigned  to  me  was  The 
General  Principles  of  Art  and  their  Application 
to  the  "  Novel,"  the  idea  being  to  lay  a  solid 
foundation  of  principles  upon  which  the  Asso- 
ciation should  subsequently  work.  The  paper 
was  read  in  the  spring  of  1886,  and  was  later 
published  in  the  Overland  Monthly.*    The  prep- 

*Sec.  ser.,  v,  337-347. 
20  289 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

aration  of  it,  with  the  necessity  of  bringing  out 
my  views  on  the  rejuvenation  of  the  Sierra, 
interrupted  my  work  on  the  book  for  many 
months.  In  the  fall  I  resumed  it  and  sent  the 
manuscript  of  the  first  part,  What  is  Evolu- 
tion? to  the  publishers  for  examination.  It 
having  been  approved,  I  finished  the  book  in 
1887,  and  it  was  published  early  in  the  follow- 
ing year. 

Its  success  was  far  greater  than  my  expecta- 
tions. The  intelligent  public  seemed  to  have 
been  waiting  for  such  a  book,  especially  for  the 
third  part,  The  Relation  of  Evolution  to  Re- 
ligious Thought.  Since  its  publication  I  have 
received  letters  from  many  clergymen,  of  every 
denomination,  who  were  personally  unknown  to 
me,  thanking  me  for  the  boldness  yet  temper- 
ateness  of  the  book ;  some  thirty  or  forty  young 
men  of  high  intelligence,  many  of  them  scien- 
tific men,  though  personally  strangers,  have 
written  to  thank  me  for  a  book  that  they  said 
had  saved  them  from  blank  materialism;  and 
men  of  the  highest  distinction  in  England, 
France,  and  Italy  have  sent  me  letters  of  similar 
import.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  book 
was  timely  and  has  done  much  good,  which,  of 
course,  greatly  gratified  me. 

290 


CHAPTER   Xn 

GEOLOGICAL   EXCURSIONS;   FIRST   VISIT   TO    EUROPE; 

1887-1892 

In  1887,  by  invitation  of  the  Rev.  George 
Wharton  James,  I  made  a  trip  by  "  buckboard  " 
through  Modoc  County,  taking  my  son  Joe  with 
me  and  giving  him  his  first  experience  of  camp 
life.  We  went  from  Reno,  Nevada,  by  Pyramid 
and  Winnemucca  Lakes  to  Surprise  Valley  and 
thence  on  foot  and  horseback  to  Warner  Moun- 
tain, camping  for  about  three  weeks  on  Blue 
Lake,  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level. 
The  scenery  about  Pyramid  Lake  is  very  beau- 
tiful and  the  geology  of  the  region  is  extremely 
interesting,  Pyramid  and  Winnemucca  Lakes 
being  remnants  of  the  great  Lake  Lahontan  of 
glacial  times.  The  old  lake  terraces,  with  their 
calcareous  deposits  still  hanging  on  the  sur- 
rounding slopes,  mark  the  former  height  of  the 
waters.  The  subject  has  been  exhaustively 
treated  by  Professor  I.  C.  Russell,  of  the  United 

291 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

States  Geological  Survey,  but  I  greatly  enjoyed 
verifying  his  results  by  personal  examination. 
I  was  also  much  interested  in  the  structure  of 
Surprise  Valley.  This  is  about  seventy  miles 
long  and  only  eight  or  ten  miles  wide,  with 
mountains  rising  abruptly  on  each  side  two  or 
three  thousand  feet,  evidently  a  fault-scarp. 
The  bottom  of  the  valley  is  quite  flat  and  once 
formed  the  bed  of  a  lake,  of  which  three  small 
remnants  still  remain.  The  valley  is  the  re- 
sult of  a  double  fault  and  a  dropped  wedge. 
Russell  had  already  explained  the  general 
structure  of  this  region  as  an  example  of 
mountain  making  by  block  tilting,  and  I  was 
delighted  to  find  so  good  an  example  of  this  as 
Surprise  Valley.  In  my  paper  on  The  Origin 
of  Transverse  Mountain-Valleys  and  Some 
Glacial  Phenomena  in  those  of  the  Sierra  Neva- 
da, published  in  1898,*  I  made  use  of  this  to 
explain  many  things  in  the  structure  of  the 
valleys  in  the  Sierras  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

In  this  year,  1887,  I  wrote  a  paper  on  The 
Flora  of  the  Coast  Islands  of  California  in 
Relation  to  Recent  Changes  of  Physical  Geog- 

*  Univ.  Chronicle,  i,  479-497. 

292 


GEOLOGICAL   EXCURSIONS 

rapliy,*  the  facts  for  which  were  given  me  by 
E.  L.  Greene,  professor  of  botany  in  the  Uni- 
versity, though  the  interpretation  of  them  was 
entirely  my  own.  In  the  same  year  I  addressed 
the  California  Teachers'  Association  on  Sense- 
training  and  Hand-training  in  the  Public 
Schools,f  maintaining  that  in  all  grades  of  edu- 
cation the  brain  is  best  trained  in  connection 
with  the  eye  and  the  hand. 

In  May,  1888,  occurred  a  great  event  in  the 
history  of  the  University,  the  formal  transfer 
of  the  Lick  Observatory  to  the  Regents  of  the 
University  of  California.  It  was  a  great  occa- 
sion, and  addresses  were  made  on  behalf  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  James  Lick  Trust  and  of  the 
Regents  of  the  University.  I  was  selected  to 
represent  the  regents  and  the  faculty,  and  am 
willing  to  let  my  address  on  that  occasion  stand 
as  representative  of  my  style  in  thought  and  ex- 
position. 

In  the  same  year  I  contributed  to  the  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly  an  article  on  The  Problem 
of  a  Flying-Machine,:}:  in  which  I  took  strong 
ground  against  the  physical  possibility  of  a  fly- 

*  Bulletin  Cal.  Acad,  of  Sc,  viii,  515-520. 
|  Pacific  Educ.  Jour.,  iii,  41-52. 
X  XXXIV,  69-76. 

293 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ing  machine.  Later,  in  1894,*  I  modified  my 
views  in  the  light  of  Langley's  experiments  on 
the  properties  of  an  aeroplane  and  retracted 
some  extreme  statements ;  but  the  main  conclu- 
sions of  the  paper  I  believe  still  remain  true. 

During  the  summer  of  1888  I  again  visited 
my  daughters  and  grandchildren  in  the  South 
Atlantic  States,  and  while  there  addressed  the 
Philosophic  Society  of  Atlanta  on  the  subject 
of  evolution.  I  was  delighted  to  find  much  in- 
tellectual activity  in  this  society,  which  was  un- 
der the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Armstrong, 
a  very  liberal  and  independent  thinker. 

The  following  summer  I  again  went  camp- 
ing in  the  Sierras  with  a  party  of  young  men, 
of  whom  my  son  was  one ;  and  for  the  first  time 
felt  that  I  was  losing  my  physical  endurance. 
I  was  then  sixty-six,  and  the  long  ride  over  the 
hot  San  Joaquin  plains  not  only  greatly  fatigued 
me  but  utterly  destroyed  my  appetite.  It  was 
not  till  we  were  well  up  in  the  mountains  that 
my  strength  returned,  but  from  that  time  on  I 
was  as  strong  as  ever  and  enjoyed  life  as  much 
as  the  youngest  of  the  party.  We  went  only 
over  ground  that  was  already  familiar  to  me — 

*  New  Lights  on  the  Problem  of  Flying.     Pop.  Sc.  Mo.,  xliv, 

744-757. 

294 


GEOLOGICAL   EXCUBSIONS 

Yosemite,  Tuolumne  Meadows,  Mono  Pass, 
Mono  Lake,  etc. — but  I  made  the  trip  again 
partly  for  the  love  of  camp  life,  partly  that  I 
might  impart  my  love  of  nature  to  my  pupils, 
and  particularly  to  my  son.  He  has  since  be- 
come the  best  camper  and  mountaineer  I  ever 
knew,  tramping  four  or  five  hundred  miles  in 
the  Sierras  every  summer  and  probably  know- 
ing them  better  than  any  other  living  man,  un- 
less possibly  Mr.  John  Muir.  He  is,  moreover, 
an  extremely  expert  photographer ;  I  have  never 
seen  anything  equal  to  his  photographs  of  the 
Yosemite  and  the  High  Sierra. 

My  brother  John  was  given  leave  of  absence 
with  full  salary  from  July,  1889,  until  July,  1890, 
and  planned  to  spend  it  in  recreation  and  foreign 
travel.  But  when  he  had  made  all  preparations 
for  his  departure,  his  wife  was  taken  extremely 
ill  and  was  nursed  back  to  life  and  comparative 
health  only  by  the  most  tender  care  and  unre- 
mitting attention  on  his  part.  He  at  once  gave 
up  all  hope  of  recreation,  and  spent  the  whole 
year  by  her  side,  the  most  beautiful  example 
of  self-sacrificing  devotion  I  ever  witnessed. 
When  the  University  reopened  in  August,  1890, 
he  took  up  the  burden  of  his  work  bravely  and 
cheerfully  but  unrefreshed.    I  easily  saw  that 

295 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

he  was  failing,  and  at  last  one  day  in  February, 
1891,  he  came  to  my  room  looking  very  weary 
and  said  that  he  felt  that  his  life-work  was  done 
and  that  he  desired  to  be  relieved  at  the  end  of 
the  term.  I  immediately  consulted  the  regents 
and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  be  substan- 
tially relieved,  retaining  his  title  and  salary,  but 
doing  only  such  work,  in  kind  and  amount,  as  he 
desired.  But  alas !  an  attack  of  la  grippe  easily 
exhausted  his  remaining  stock  of  life  and  he 
died,  in  his  seventy-third  year,  on  April  29th, 
within  two  weeks  of  his  promised  rest. 

The  loss  to  me  is  inconceivable,  With  but 
brief  interruptions,  we  had  been  companions  all 
our  lives;  as  children  on  the  old  plantation,  as 
fellow-students  in  college  and  professional 
school,  and  as  colleagues  in  Athens,  Columbia, 
and  Berkeley.  My  estimates  of  his  character 
and  scientific  career  have  already  been  given  in 
his  memoir  in  the  publications  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Science,*  of  which  we  were  both 
members,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.  I 
there  state  the  loss  to  science  by  his  death ;  but 
my  own  personal  loss  it  is  impossible  to  express. 
The  sense  of  loss  felt  by  the  community,  the 

*  Biog.  Memoirs,  iii,  369-393. 

296 


Professor  John  Le  Conte. 


GEOLOGICAL   EXCURSIONS 

State,  and  especially  the  University,  was  shown 
by  the  public  funeral  given  him  by  the  Uni- 
versity. 

He  was  more  than  four  years  my  senior.  I 
have  already  (1901)  lived  over  five  years  longer 
than  he  did,  and  am  yet  much  stronger  than  he 
was  during  the  months  that  preceded  his  death. 
As  in  other  elements  contributive  to  long  life — 
even  temperament,  for  example,  and  the  love  of 
one's  own  household — we  were  equally  blest,  I 
attribute  this  mainly  to  my  passion  for  camp 
life  and  the  mountains. 

The  years  1890  and  1891  were  such  active 
ones  with  me  that  I  can  do  no  more  than  men- 
tion some  of  my  more  important  papers:  The 
General  Interior  Condition  of  the  Earth ;  *  On 
the  Origin  of  Normal  Faults  and  of  the  Struc- 
ture of  the  Basin  Region ;  f  Ptomaines  and  Leu- 
comaines  and  their  Relation  to  Disease ;  X  The 
Natural  Grounds  of  Belief  in  a  Personal  Im- 
mortality ;  *  The  Factors  of  Evolution ;  1 1  Ter- 
tiary and  Post-Tertiary  Changes  of  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Pacific  Coasts  with  a  Note  on  the  Rela- 

*  Am.  Geol.,  iv,  38-44. 

f  Am.  Jour.  Sc,  cxxxviii,  257-263. 
%  Pac.  Med.  Jour.,  xxxii,  529-532. 

#  Andover  Rev.,  xiv,  1-13. 
1  Monist,  i,  321-335. 

297 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tion  between  Land-Elevation  and  Ice- Accumula- 
tion during  the  Quaternary  Period;*  Evolu- 
tion and  Human  Progress ;  f  and  The  Relation 
of  the  Church  to  Modern  Scientific  Thought.  % 
In  1891  I  was  elected  President  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  As  already  stated  I  became  a  member 
of  this  association  in  1850  and  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Governing  Council  and  General  Secre- 
tary in  1861.  I  was  on  the  road  to  advance- 
ment and  would  doubtless  in  a  few  years  more 
have  been  made  president.  But  then  came  the 
war  and  the  meetings  of  the  Association  were 
suspended.  When  they  were  resumed  in  1866 
I  did  not  attend ;  the  embittered  feelings  engen- 
dered by  the  war  had  not  wholly  abated,  and 
moreover  I  was  too  poor  to  afford  the  expense. 
My  membership  therefore  lapsed  by  default. 
Soon  after  I  moved  to  California,  and  seemed, 
like  Cortes,  to  have  burned  my  ships.  I  was 
practically  cut  off  from  intercourse  with  East- 
ern scientific  men  and  had  to  work  alone.  In 
1881,  without  seeking  on  my  part,  I  was  elected 
a  fellow,  and  thereafter  paid  my  dues  regularly 

*  Bull.  Geol.  Soc.  Am.,  ii,  323-330. 
f  Open  Court,  v,  2779-2783. 
%  Andover  Rev.,  xvi,  1-11. 

298 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

and  received  the  Proceedings.  Still  I  could  not 
attend  the  meetings,  as  the  expense  each  time 
would  have  been  not  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  Finally,  in  1891,  just  thirty  years 
after  my  last  appearance  at  a  meeting,  I  re- 
ceived letters  from  some  of  the  most  prominent 
members  stating  that  if  I  would  attend  the  meet- 
ing at  Washington  in  August,  I  would  be  made 
president.  The  meeting  was  to  be  a  very  im- 
portant one,  for  the  International  Geological 
Congress  was  to  meet  at  the  same  time  and 
place ;  and  as  I  had  leave  of  absence  for  a  year, 
which  I  intended  to  spend  in  Europe,  I  deter- 
mined to  attend.  I  was  not  only  elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  Association  but  also  First  Vice- 
President  of  the  American  Committee  of  the 
Geological  Congress,  and  as  the  president,  Pro- 
fessor Newberry,  was  ill,  it  became  my  duty  to 
preside  over  the  Congress,  and,  therefore,  to 
make  an  address  welcoming  the  distinguished 
geologists  there  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Of  this  I  knew  nothing  until  I  reached 
"Washington,  so  had  but  two  days  in  which  to 
prepare  my  address.  I  chose  as  my  subject 
The  American  Continent  as  a  Geological  Field, 
and  compared  it  in  this  respect  with  Europe, 
drawing  the  attention  of  the  foreign  geologists 

299 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

to  its  most  striking  characteristics  and  espe- 
cially to  the  fact  that  geological  problems  are 
here  expressed  in  simpler  terms  than  in  Europe. 
At  the  Congress  I  became  well  acquainted  with 
a  number  of  foreign  geologists  whom  I  later  met 
in  Europe,  particularly  Professor  Hughes,  Pro- 
fessor Barrios,  of  Lille,  and  Professor  Cadell, 
of  Scotland,  who,  with  Professor  Shaler  and 
myself,  were  guests  for  ten  days  or  two  weeks 
at  Mr.  Gardner  Hubbard's  splendid  country 
home  near  Washington. 

From  here  I  went  to  New  York  and  spent  a 
month  in  superintending  the  publication  of  a 
new  edition,  the  fourth,  of  my  Elements  of 
Geology.  My  son  Joe  had  just  graduated  and 
had  been  made  the  first  recipient  of  the  Le  Conte 
Memorial  Fellowship,  which  the  alumni  of  the 
University  of  California  had  established  in 
honor  of  my  brother  and  myself.  He  inherits 
a  love  for  science,  but  his  taste  is  for  the  mathe- 
matical and  physical  rather  than  for  the  natural 
sciences.  From  childhood  he  has  delighted  in 
all  kinds  of  mechanical  contrivances,  and  when 
but  fourteen  constructed  without  help  a  com- 
plete steam-engine  to  run  his  lathe  and  scroll- 
saw.  He  had  determined  to  perfect  himself  in 
electric  engineering,  and  as  our  plant  at  Berke- 

300 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

ley  was  not  then  complete  I  took  liim  to  Cornell 
and  entered  him  as  a  graduate  student  there. 

After  my  return  to  New  York  I  went  South 
with  my  wife  and  daughter  and  for  several 
months  visited  my  daughters  there.  On  my 
way  to  the  North  again  I  spent  a  week  in  Wash- 
ington and  lectured  before  the  Philosophic  So- 
ciety on  The  Relation  of  Philosophy  to  Psy- 
chology and  to  Physiology.  While  in  New  York 
making  arrangements  for  our  European  trip,  I 
was  also  invited  to  lecture  before  the  Brooklyn 
Ethical  Association  on  The  Race  Problem  in 
the  South.  The  lecture  was  one  of  a  series  on 
social  and  political  questions  in  relation  to 
ethics,  published  later  in  a  volume  entitled  Man 
and  the  State.  The  question  was  a  delicate  one, 
but  I  spoke  plainly  from  the  scientific  point  of 
view.  The  views  I  maintained  that  evening 
were  then  unpopular,  but  are  now  acknowledged 
almost  universally  by  thinking  men.  Lincoln's 
definition  of  an  ideal  government,  one  of  the 
people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people,  must 
be  modified;  how  becomes  obvious  if  we  intro- 
duce the  little  word  all.  A  rational  government 
must  be  of  all  the  people  and  for  all  the  people, 
but  not  by  all  the  people.  It  never  has  been  and 
never  can  be. 

301 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  February,  1892,  we 
started  for  Europe  in  the  steamer  Werra,  and 
thirteen  days  later,  after  a  very  stormy  passage, 
landed  at  Genoa.  This  trip  to  Europe  was  an 
important  epoch  in  my  life.  Perhaps  I  should 
have  gone  just  after  my  marriage,  as  I  was  then 
"  foot-loose  "  and  had  sufficient  income.  I  did 
indeed  offer  to  take  my  bride,  but  neither  of  us 
then  appreciated  the  importance  of  such  a  trip 
and  we  did  not  go.  After  that,  increasing 
family,  decreasing  resources,  and  professional 
duties  made  it  more  and  more  difficult,  indeed 
impossible.  Now,  when  I  was  sixty-nine,  the 
Regents  of  the  University  again  made  it  possi- 
ble by  generously  giving  me  a  year's  leave  of 
absence  with  full  salary.  The  advantages  of 
such  a  trip  in  youth  and  in  age  are  very  differ- 
ent ;  in  youth  the  advantage  is  mainly  the  broad- 
ening of  the  mind  and  character  by  a  purely  un- 
conscious process,  by  new  experiences;  in  age 
the  mind  and  character  are  better  prepared  to 
take  advantage  of  all  sources  of  information. 
I  was,  moreover,  now  well  known  by  my  writ- 
ings, and  could  therefore  become  personally  ac- 
quainted with  prominent  men. 

Our  intention  was  to  land  in  Italy  and  fol- 
low the   season  northward.     From   Genoa  we 

302 


Mrs.  Joseph  Le  Conte. 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

went  to  Rome,  where  we  remained  two  weeks. 
The  Eternal  City  delighted  us,  not  only  for  its 
glorious  associations,  wonderful  antiquities,  and 
splendors  of  art,  ancient  and  modern,  but  be- 
cause we  found  the  people  charming.  There  is 
a  certain  freedom  of  manners  and  a  beauty  in 
the  women  and  children  of  the  middle  and  lower 
classes;  even  the  beggar  boys  in  their  tatters 
were  free  and  buoyant,  picturesque  and  beau- 
tiful. The  English  and  American  resident 
society  is,  moreover,  delightful,  being  a  picked 
set  of  intelligent,  and  especially  of  artistic,  men 
and  women.  Such  persons  are  everywhere 
naturally  free  and  unconventional,  but  these 
characteristics  seemed  to  me  modified  to  a  richer 
color  by  the  very  air  and  sky  of  Italy. 

I  must  here  record  my  great  obligations  to 
three  American  women,  old  friends  then  resi- 
dent in  Rome:  Mrs.  Terry,  the  sister  of  Mrs. 
Julia  Ward  Howe  and  mother  of  Marion  Craw- 
ford, the  successful  novelist;  Mrs.  Carlton,  a 
painter,  daughter  of  Mr.  Petigru,  the  distin- 
guished jurist  of  South  Carolina,  whom  I  knew 
quite  well ;  and  Mrs.  Norman  Lieber,  widow  of  a 
son  of  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  who  was  a  professor 
in  the  South  Carolina  College  before  the  war. 
This  last  family  furnishes  an  example  of  the 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

dreadful  tragedies  of  the  war ;  the  two  brothers, 
Norman  and  Oscar — the  latter  State  Geologist 
of  South  Carolina  and  one  of  my  most  intimate 
friends — were  both  killed,  the  one  fighting  for 
the  North,  the  other  for  the  South.  These 
three  women  contributed  much  to  the  pleasure 
of  our  stay  in  Rome,  introducing  us  to  several 
delightful  Italian  families.  I  also  visited  the 
studios  of  a  number  of  artists,  especially  that 
of  Story.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  connoisseur, 
though  I  am  an  intense  lover  of  art,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  some  of  the  pieces  of  sculpture  in 
his  studio  have  never  been  excelled.  It  is  im- 
possible to  imagine  a  more  nearly  perfect  ideal 
representation  of  refined  yet  voluptuous  beauty 
than  a  statue  of  Cleopatra  reclining.  This 
seemed  to  me  a  really  wonderful  masterpiece, 
even  the  elastic  softness  of  the  skin  being  mar- 
velously  represented  in  the  marble,  the  slightly 
yellowish  tint  of  which  undoubtedly  contributed 
to  the  effect. 

From  Rome  we  went  to  Naples.  The  charm 
here  was  not  so  much  in  the  people,  who  did  not 
please  me  as  much  as  the  Romans  did,  as  in  the 
scenery;  the  beautiful  bay,  with  its  bold,  rocky 
coast,  picturesque  islands,  and  grand  volcanic 
peak.    I  have  often  heard  the  Bay  of  San  Fran- 

304 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

cisco  compared  with,  that  of  Naples,  and  surely 
they  challenge  comparison  as  the  two  noblest  in 
the  world.  The  scenery  about  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco,  the  bold  coast,  the  lofty  mountains, 
the  noble  islands,  the  great  expanse  of  water, 
and  the  Golden  Gate,  opening  out  on  the  vast 
Pacific — these  are  as  fine  as,  perhaps  finer  than, 
the  Bay  of  Naples.  Seen  at  a  distance,  as  from 
Berkeley,  the  general  effect  is  unsurpassable. 
And  yet  there  is  a  difference  in  favor  of  Na- 
ples. What  is  it?  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
difference  between  a  tideless  and  a  tidal  sea; 
between  the  clear  blue  waters  of  the  one  and 
the  turbid  waters  of  the  other;  between  the 
clean  rock  and  pebble  shores,  against  which 
the  lapping  of  the  waves  produces  not  even 
the  slightest  milkiness  in  the  one  case,  and 
the  mud-flat  margins,  in  the  other.  To  be  sure, 
these  differences  are  not  visible  at  a  distance, 
but  the  knowledge  of  them  unconsciously 
mingles  with  the  general  esthetic  effect  of  the 
whole. 

At  Naples  I  made  a  brief  visit  to  the  cele- 
brated Zoological  Station,  and  we  spent  several 
days  of  delight  at  Sorrento  and  Capri,  visiting 
the  Blue  Grotto  of  course.  Shall  I  ever  forget 
the  glorious  ride  from  Sorrento  to  Castellamare 
21  305 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and  thence  to  Pompeii?  Or  the  ascent  of  Vesu- 
vius'? 

After  a  week  in  Naples  and  vicinity  we  re- 
turned to  Rome  for  another  week.  Thence  we 
went  to  Florence,  and  enjoyed  its  incomparable 
art-galleries  and  the  sculptures  of  Michael  An- 
gelo  and  made  a  visit  to  the  home  of  Galileo. 
Our  next  stopping  place  was  Venice,  the  en- 
chanting, where  we  saw  the  glories  of  Titian, 
Guido,  Tintoret,  and  Veronese.  Milan,  with  its 
wonderful  cathedral  and  great  picture  of  The 
Last  Supper,  by  Leonardo,  was  next  visited; 
and  from  there  we  went,  by  way  of  Como,  Lu- 
gano, the  St.  Gothard  Pass,  and  the  exquisite 
Lake  Lucerne,  to  Zurich,  where  we  remained  a 
week.  The  excellent  university  here  and  the 
splendid  Polytechnicum,  perhaps  the  finest  in 
Europe,  greatly  interested  me,  and  I  met  a 
number  of  distinguished  men,  among  them 
Weber  and  Professor  Heim.  The  Italian  con- 
sul here  proved  to  be  an  old  San  Francisco 
friend,  and  when  I  called  upon  him  he  actually 
embraced  me  with  joy ! 

From  Heidelberg,  with  its  romantic  castle, 
nestled  among  the  hills,  we  went  down  the  Rhine 
to  Cologne.  The  scenery  of  the  Rhine  is  very 
fine,  but  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  picturesque 

306 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

ruined  castles  and  the  traditions  and  legends 
connected  with  them.  In  itself  it  is  inferior  to 
that  of  the  Columbia,  the  Fraser,  or  even  the 
Hudson.  The  wonderful  cathedral  of  Cologne 
is  probably  the  finest  in  Europe,  but  its  effect 
is  marred  by  its  mean  environment.  In  this  re- 
spect that  of  Milan  is  far  finer. 

After  a  few  days  in  Cologne  we  went  directly 
to  Paris.  There,  as  in  the  places  previously 
mentioned,  I  saw  whatever  there  was  to  be  seen, 
what  tourists  ordinarily  see.  It  is  unnecessary, 
therefore,  to  dwell  on  these  topics.  What  was 
peculiar  to  me  was  my  acquaintance  with  dis- 
tinguished men.  Among  geologists  I  saw  a 
good  deal  of  Gaudry  and  Boule,  of  the  Jardin 
des  Plantes,  De  Margerie,  of  the  Survey  of 
France,  and  Daubrde,  the  President  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Science.  Professor  Javal,  the  ophthal- 
mologist of  the  Sorbonne,  translator  of  Helm- 
holtz's  Physiological  Optics,  invited  me  to  his 
house  to  luncheon.  On  entering  his  study,  I  saw 
lying  on  his  study-table  a  copy  of  my  book  on 
Sight,  and  he  told  me  that  he  used  it  in  his 
teaching  of  physiological  optics.  I  called  his 
attention  to  several  points  in  which  I  differ  fun- 
damentally from  Helmholtz,  and  he  said  that  in 
his  opinion  I  was  right  in  every  case.    As  the 

307 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

whole  family  spoke  English,  I  spent  a  very  de- 
lightful day. 

After  spending  the  month  of  May  in  Paris, 
we  crossed  the  Channel  to  England.  Ah!  the 
delight  of  hearing  my  mother  tongue  again! 
It  was  like  returning  home.  We  remained  in 
London  over  a  month,  most  of  the  time  as 
guests  of  Mr.  De  Friese,  formerly  a  pupil  of 
mine  in  the  University  of  California  but  now  a 
successful  London  attorney.  The  house  in 
which  he  lived  belonged  to  Mr.  Rider  Haggard 
but  was  leased  to  Professor  Jebb,  from  whom 
Mr.  De  Friese  rented  it.  It  was  filled  with  me- 
mentos of  its  former  occupants  as  well  as  with 
many  curious  things  that  Mr.  De  Friese  himself 
had  brought  from  Turkey. 

In  London  I  made  many  delightful  acquaint- 
ances, especially  among  geologists.  Professor 
Prestwick,  with  whom  I  had  corresponded  and 
exchanged  books,  had  retired  from  the  chair  of 
geology  in  Oxford,  and  invited  us  to  visit  him 
at  his  home  in  Kent.  We  spent  several  days 
here  with  the  genial  and  kindly  professor,  still 
full  of  life  and  of  interest  in  science,  though 
nearly  eighty,  and  his  gentle  and  hospitable 
wife,  who  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  her 
husband's  pursuits.    Pie  took  me  over  his  place, 

308 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

an  ideal  home  in  the  most  beautiful  part  of 
England,  showing  me  with  pride  his  fruit-trees 
and  his  flowers.  His  house  was  filled  with  illus- 
trations of  geology,  among  them  a  collection  of 
Plateau  implements  that  proved  for  the  first 
time  the  existence  of  man  in  the  earliest  glacial, 
if  not  in  preglacial,  times.  He  gave  me  a  few 
specimens  of  these  and  they  are  now  in  the 
Museum  of  the  University  of  California. 

Sir  Archibald  Geikie  I  frequently  saw,  both 
in  his  study  in  Jermyn  Street  and  at  his  home 
in  Cambridge  Crescent.  With  Professor  Judd 
I  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society 
and  dined  with  the  assembled  geologists,  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  Professor  Woodward,  Wil- 
frid H.  Hudleston,  and  many  others.  Sir  John 
Lubbock  was  especially  cordial,  inviting  me  to  a 
reception  at  his  house,  where  I  met  Lady  Lub- 
bock, and  taking  me  to  Parliament,  where  he 
pointed  out  the  distinguished  members. 

Sir  Andrew  Clark,  to  whom  I  presented  a 
card  from  Dr.  Sayre,  also  received  me  with  the 
greatest  cordiality.  As  soon  as  I  appeared  he 
greeted  me  with  the  question,  "Are  you  the 
author  of  this  book?  "  holding  out  my  Evolu- 
tion and  its  Relation  to  Religious  Thought. 
"  Yes,  sir."     "  Well,  you  see  how  carefully  I 

309 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

have  read  it,"  showing  me  the  marginal  annota- 
tions.   I  was  of  course  greatly  gratified. 

As  Sir  William  McCormack  was  too  ill  to  go 
out,  Mr.  Croome  Robertson,  the  editor  of  Mind, 
urged  me  to  waive  all  ceremony  and  call  on  him. 
I  found  him  most  unpretentious,  cordial,  and 
genial,  though  evidently  suffering  from  a  fatal 
disease. 

I  dined  with  that  famous  assemblage  of  art- 
ists and  men  of  talent  in  every  profession,  the 
Savage  Club,  and  witnessed  a  most  remarkable 
exhibition  of  many  kinds  of  skill  and  talent. 
Sir  James  Gibbe  presided,  and  much  to  my  sur- 
prise called  on  me  to  speak. 

We  spent  a  Sunday  at  the  home  of  a 
friend  of  our  hosts  at  Richmond,  about  fif- 
teen miles  from  London.  The  house  was  on 
the  banks  of  the  Thames,  and  the  lovely 
grounds  and  the  river  crowded  with  pleasure 
boats  full  of  gaily  attired  people  in  holiday 
spirit  made  one  of  the  most  charming  pictures 
I  ever  saw. 

But  perhaps  the  most  delightful  experiences 
were  those  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford.  Profess- 
or and  Mrs.  J.  McKenney  Hughes,  whom  I  had 
met  at  the  Geological  Congress  at  Washington, 
entertained  us  for  several  days  in  Cambridge, 

310 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

and  we  greatly  enjoyed  their  charming  hospi- 
tality. Under  the  guidance  of  the  professor  I 
saw  the  beautiful  grounds  and  learned  the  work- 
ings of  the  great  University,  and  became  ac- 
quainted with  Sir  George  Stokes,  the  Chancel- 
lor, Professor  Ewing,  Professor  Harker,  and 
Miss  Lyell,  sister  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  the  great 
geologist. 

Professor  George  Romanes,  with  whom  I 
had  corresponded  and  exchanged  publications 
but  whom  I  had  never  met,  invited  me  to  spend 
a  few  days  with  him  at  his  charming  home  in 
Oxford.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  at  the 
time  seriously  threatened  with  the  brain  trou- 
ble of  which  he  soon  after  died,  I  found  him 
cheerful  and  genial,  and  on  the  day  of  my 
arrival  he  invited  several  of  his  intimate  friends 
to  meet  me.  I  then  became  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Gore,  now  Canon  Gore,  a  man  of  remarkable 
ability,  editor  of  the  celebrated  book  Lux  Mundi 
and  author  of  the  most  important  essays  in  it. 
After  dinner  I  walked  over  the  university 
grounds  with  him,  and  he  took  my  breath  away 
by  telling  me  that  he  thought  so  highly  of  my 
book,  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious 
Thought,  to  which  Professor  Romanes  had 
drawn  his   attention,   that  he   used  it  in  his 

311 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

classes  on  that  subject  and  in  a  few  days  would 
examine  them  on  it. 

Professor  Romanes  himself  was  obliged  to 
be  very  quiet,  but  his  wife  was  full  of  energy 
and  spirit  and  carried  me  everywhere  and 
showed  me  everything  about  Oxford.  She  took 
me  to  see  the  venerable  and  distinguished  phys- 
iologist, Sir  John  Burdon-Sanderson,  and  then 
insisted  on  my  accompanying  her,  dressed  as  I 
was,  to  a  garden  party  at  one  of  the  colleges  for 
women,  where  I  met  many  charming  people, 
among  them  Sir  John  Evans,  the  anthropologist. 
I  also  dined  in  the  hall  of  Christ  Church  with 
the  dons,  but  found  the  dinner  formal  and 
rather  stiff. 

About  the  first  of  July  we  left  London  for 
Edinburgh,  visiting  on  the  way  the  quaint  little 
town  of  Stratford  on  Avon,  peculiarly  interest- 
ing to  me  because  of  my  unbounded  admiration 
and  love  for  Shakespeare ;  the  still  quainter  and 
less  changed  Warwick  and  its  wonderfully  beau- 
tiful castle;  Kenilworth,  where  every  one  that 
loves  Walter  Scott  will  endeavor  to  find  traces 
of  the  magnificence  that  he  has  celebrated ;  Mel- 
rose, with  its  fine  ruined  abbey;  and  Abbots- 
ford,  the  home  of  Scott. 

After  several  days  in  beautiful  Edinburgh, 
312 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

where  I  particularly  admired  the  view  of  the 
castle  from  across  the  gorge,  having  seen  every- 
thing worth  seeing,  we  went  on  to  Stirling, 
and  thence  to  Glasgow  by  the  Trossachs  and 
Lochs  Lomond  and  Katrine,  a  charming  trip. 

In  Glasgow  I  went  at  once  to  call  upon  Sir 
"William  Thomson,  whom  I  had  met  in  Philadel- 
phia at  the  Centennial  Exposition.  "Is  Sir 
William  Thomson  at  home1?"  I  asked  of  the 
splendid  footman  that  appeared  in  answer  to 
my  ring.  "  Lord  Kelvin,  if  you  please,"  he  an- 
swered. "  No,  sir ;  he  has  gone  to  Dublin  to  at- 
tend the  tercentennial  celebration  there."  Ah 
well,  thought  I,  then  I  shall  see  him  there.  I 
visited  the  University  of  Glasgow,  but  as  I  had 
no  letters  of  introduction  became  acquainted 
with  no  one  save  the  Curator  of  the  Museum. 

From  Glasgow  we  went  to  "  Auld  Ayr,  wham 
ne'er  a  town  surpasses,"  and  thence  via  Stran- 
raer, across  the  Channel  to  Belfast.  We 
arrived  at  Dublin  too  late  for  the  celebration, 
so  I  again  missed  seeing  Lord  Kelvin.  But 
walking  across  the  campus  of  Trinity  I  met  an 
old  friend  from  home,  Professor  Wm.  Carey 
Jones,  the  delegate  from  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia to  the  celebration. 

In  New  York  I  had  met  an  Irish  lady,  Mrs. 
313 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

O'Connell,  daughter  of  Bianconi,  the  great  bene- 
factor of  Ireland,  who  introduced  good  roads, 
jaunting  cars,  and  stages  all  over  the  country, 
and  wife  of  a  nephew  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  the 
Liberator,  a  most  cultured  woman,  full  of  genu- 
ine Irish  wit  and  humor.  She  had  most  cor- 
dially invited  me  to  visit  her  in  Ireland,  and 
when  she  learned  that  we  were  in  London  wrote 
at  once  fixing  a  time  for  our  visit.  From  Dub- 
lin, therefore,  we  went  by  rail  to  Gould's  Cross, 
near  Cashell,  the  capital  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ire- 
land, and  from  there  in  her  carriage  to  Long- 
fields,  her  home.  She  and  her  son  received  us 
with  the  most  whole-souled  hospitality  and  in- 
sisted on  our  staying  a  week  instead  of  the  two 
or  three  days  that  we  had  intended.  Long- 
fields  is  a  typical  Irish  estate,  charmingly  situ- 
ated in  a  bend  of  the  river  Suir.  The  family 
was  Irish  of  the  Irish,  so  not  only  lived  on  the 
place  and  managed  the  estate  but  took  a  deep 
interest  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  welfare  of 
the  tenantry.  Though  but  twenty,  Mrs.  O'Con- 
nell's  son  had  organized  a  temperance  society 
among  the  tenants,  and  as  an  example  to  them, 
though  wine  was  on  the  table  every  day  and 
drunk  freely  by  every  one  else,  including  the 
visiting  priests,  he  never  touched  it.     He  also 

314 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

got  up  lectures'  and  plays  for  them  in  a  barn 
rudely  fitted  up  for  the  purpose,  and  they  in 
turn  serenaded  us  with  their  brass  band  and 
formally  conducted  us  to  our  seats  at  a  per- 
formance. The  music  was  discordant  enough 
surely,  but  we  enjoyed  it  as  the  spontaneous 
offering  of  a  kindly  spirit.  In  company  with 
Mrs.  O'Connell  we  visited  the  cabins  of  the  ten- 
ants and  chatted  with  them,  everywhere  seeing 
evidences  of  the  kindly  and  even  affectionate 
relation  that  existed  between  the  tenantry  and 
the  landlord.  If  all  estates  were  managed  in 
this  way,  there  would  be  no  Irish  question. 

Leaving  this  delightful  place  and  these 
charming  people  with  great  reluctance,  we  went 
to  Killarney.  The  beautiful  lakes  there  richly 
deserve  their  reputation,  the  intricate  com- 
plexity of  outline  giving  them  an  inexpressible 
charm.  The  freshness  and  greenness  here  were 
simply  unsurpassable,  even  in  the  Emerald  Isle 
itself.  We  saw  the  lakes  under  peculiarly 
favorable  conditions,  the  days  being  fine  but 
changeable,  fitful,  and  capricious.  After  every 
light  shower  the  sun  would  again  break  forth 
and  flood  the  scene  with  glory.  The  charm  of 
the  lakes  as  I  saw  them  seemed  to  me  a  fitting 
emblem  of  the  charm  of  the  Irish  character. 

315 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Having  seen  the  Italian,  Swiss,  Scotch,  and 
Irish  lakes,  and  having  camped  for  weeks  among 
the  mountain  lakes  of  California,  I  may  now 
briefly  compare  them.  All  are  beautiful  in  the 
highest  degree ;  but  the  beauty  of  the  Italian  and 
Swiss  is  characterized  by  splendor,  magnifi- 
cence, and  grandeur ;  that  of  the  Scotch  by  wild- 
ness  and  picturesqueness ;  and  that  of  the  Irish 
by  simple,  unalloyed,  gladsome,  satisfying 
beauty  alone.  The  scenery  and  lakes  of  the 
Coast  Range  of  California  are  very  similar  to 
those  of  Scotland  and  fully  equal;  we  find 
here  the  same  bosky  hillsides  about  the  lakes. 
Though  artificial  and  on  a  smaller  scale,  Lakes 
San  Andreas,  Pilarcitos,  and  Crystal  Springs, 
in  San  Mateo  County,  within  twenty  miles  of 
San  Francisco,  are  equal  to  anything  I  saw  in 
Scotland.  But  the  lakes  of  the  Sierra  are  dif- 
ferent from  all  the  others,  and  I  know  not  how 
to  characterize  them  save  by  saying  that  their 
beauty  is  enhanced  by  the  absolute  solitude  and 
unbroken  silence. 

From  Killarney  we  went  to  Cork  and 
Queenstown,  the  beggars  of  which  places  were 
the  only  signs  of  the  poverty  and  misery  of  the 
Irish  people  that  we  saw,  and  took  the  steamer 
City  of  Paris  for  New  York. 

316 


CHAPTER   XIII 

SCIENTIFIC    ACTIVITY;     SECOND    VISIT    TO    EUROPE; 
SUMMARY 

We  arrived  in  New  York  in  the  early  part  of 
August,  after  a  delightfully  smooth  trip  that 
broke  the  record  for  time.  After  presiding  at 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Eochester,  I 
went  directly  home.  There  I  found  my  wife 
and  daughter,  who  on  their  return  from  Europe 
had  visited  my  daughters  in  the  South,  and  my 
son.  Joe  had  received  the  degree  of  M.  M.  E. 
from  Cornell  and  had  been  appointed  assistant 
in  mechanical  engineering  in  the  University  of 
California.  Worn  out  with  overwork  he  had 
come  directly  home  from  Ithaca,  without  await^ 
ing  our  arrival  from  Europe,  and  had  gone  into 
camp  in  the  Sierra,  and  was  now  completely  re- 
stored to  health  and  vigor.  Born  in  California, 
he  is  every  inch  a  Californian,  thinking  there  is 
no  place  equal  to  his  native  State. 

317 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

In  the  winter  of  1892-93  I  made  a  trip  to 
southern  California,  and  gave  courses  of  Uni- 
versity Extension  lectures  in  Los  Angeles  and 
San  Diego  on  Glaciers  and  the  Glacial  Epoch 
in  California.  On  the  way  south  I  stopped  at 
Fresno  and  lectured  before  the  Teachers'  Con- 
vention on  The  Relation  of  Organic  Evolution 
to  Human  Progress,  which  lecture  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Pacific  Coast  Teacher.* 

The  twenty-sixth  of  February,  1893,  was  my 
seventieth  birthday,  and  in  honor  of  the  occa- 
sion the  Academic  Senate  of  the  University 
gave  me  a  dinner  in  the  Maple  Room  of  the  Pal- 
ace Hotel,  San  Francisco.  There  was  a  very 
large  attendance,  including  several  distin- 
guished visitors,  and  a  number  of  complimen- 
tary addresses  were  made.  I  was  sincerely 
touched  by  this  evidence  of  the  affection  of  my 
colleagues. 

In  June  I  went  on  a  camping  trip  to  the 
Tosemite  with  my  son.  I  was  far  from  well, 
and  did  not  improve  in  the  valley.  Over  three- 
score and  ten,  I  felt  that  my  life  was  spent,  and 
thought  that  surely  this  was  the  last  time  I 
should  see  the  Yosemite.    Ill  and  low-spirited, 

*  II,  131-139. 

318 


SCIENTIFIC   ACTIVITY 

I  rode  about  alone,  taking  leave  with  tears  of  the 
splendid  cliffs  and  glorious  waterfalls  as  of 
dearest  friends.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  I 
visited  the  valley  several  times  after  this. 

Early  in  August  I  went  to  Madison,  Wiscon- 
.  sin,  and  there  gave  my  presidential  address  be- 
fore the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
|  ment  of  Science.    My  subject  was  Theories  of 
•  Mountain  Origin,  and  the  address  was  published 
|  not  only  in  the  Proceedings  *  of  the  Association 
but  also  in  the  Journal  of  Geology,  f    On  return- 
I  ing  to  Berkeley  I  wrote  a  memoir  of  my  brother 
John  that  was  published  in  1894  in  the  third 
volume   of  Biographical   Memoirs   of  the  Na- 
tional Academy  of  Science.^ 

In  the  spring  of  1894  occurred  the  Midwinter 
Exposition  at  San  Francisco,  and  I  was  invited 
to  address  one  of  the  congresses  connected  with 
it.  I  spoke  on  The  Theory  of  Evolution  and 
Social  Progress,  and  brought  out  some  impor- 
tant original  views  that,  when  published  in  the 
Monist  *  in  July  of  the  following  year,  attracted 
considerable  attention.  After  again  spending 
the  summer  in  the  Yosemite,  but  this  time  at 
the  hotel,  I  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Amer- 

*  XLII,  1-27.      f  I,  543-573.        %  Pp.  369-393.       •  V,  481-500. 

319 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ican  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence, at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  August. 

In  this  year  I  was  elected  an  Honorary  Mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engi- 
neers. Professor  Rossiter  Raymond  wrote  in- 
viting me  to  close  the  discussion  on  Professor 
Posepny's  Genesis  of  Ore  Deposits,  to  which  all 
of  the  most  distinguished  practical  geologists  of 
the  country  had  contributed,  and  stating  that  the 
Institute  desired  to  elect  me  an  honorary  mem- 
ber but  was  barred  because  I  had  never  con- 
tributed to  their  proceedings.  I  accepted  the 
invitation,  and  my  paper  having  been  published 
in  the  twenty-fourth  volume  of  their  Transac- 
tions,* was  duly  elected. 

In  1895  I  wrote  three  papers.  By  invitation 
I  went  to  Denver  and  addressed  the  National 
Educational  Association  on  The  Effect  of  the 
Theory  of  Evolution  on  Education,  which  ad- 
dress was  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Association  f  for  that  year,  and  reprinted  in 
the  Educational  Review.:]:  The  Philosophical 
Union  of  the  University  of  California  had  been 
studying  The  Conception  of  God,  by  Professor 
Josiah  Royce,  an  alumnus  of  the  University, 

*  Pp.  996-1006.  f  Pp.  149-161.  %  X,  121-136. 

320 


SCIENTIFIC   ACTIVITY 

and  the  year's  work  was  closed  by  a  general  pub- 
lic meeting  at  which  addresses  were  made  by 
Professor  Eoyce  himself,  Professor  Howison, 
Professor  Mezes,  of  the  University  of  Texas, 
also  an  alumnus  of  the  University,  and  myself. 
These  addresses,  after  having  been  published  in 
pamphlet  form  by  the  Union  for  its  members, 
were  enlarged  somewhat  and  published  as  a 
book  by  The  Macmillan  Company.  I  also  wrote 
by  invitation  a  memoir  of  Professor  Dana  that 
was  read  at  the  December  meeting  of  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  America,  at  which  meeting  I 
was  elected  president  of  the  Society.  The 
memoir  was  published  in  the  Bulletins  of  the 
Society  in  1896,*  and  was,  with  my  permission, 
incorporated  by  Dr.  D.  C.  Gilman  in  his  life  of 
Dana,  1899,  as  a  suitable  estimate  of  his  scien- 
tific work. 

In  January,  1896,  I  gave  up  my  undergradu- 
ate class  and  henceforth  gave  only  special,  for 
the  most  part  graduate,  courses  in  geology  and 
comparative  physiology.  I  did  this  partly  be- 
cause my  class  had  become  so  large — over  four 
hundred  in  1895 — that  it  took  me  nearly  a  month 
to  look  over  and  grade  their  examination  papers, 

*  VII,  461-474. 
22  321 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

partly  that  the  young  men  under  me,  Professors 
Lawson  and  Merriam,  might  have  a  better 
chance.  On  my  own  account  I  regretted  the 
change  more  than  I  can  express,  for  I  deeply 
loved  my  undergraduate  class.  Their  eager 
faces  always  inspired  me  to  do  my  best  and  they 
had  shown  me  so  much  real  affection  that  I  felt 
that  I  should  miss  them  infinitely.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  could  now  do  something  more 
than  elementary  teaching,  and  hoped  to  be  able 
to  inspire  my  students  with  the  true  spirit  of  in- 
vestigation. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  the  students  gener- 
ally, but  especially  my  individual  pupils,  began 
to  recognize  my  birthday  by  decorating  my  lec- 
ture-table and  giving  me  some  valuable  present, 
which  this  year  took  the  form  of  a  fine  portrait 
of  my  old  master  Agassiz.  Six  successive  years 
now  they  have  done  this,  until  it  has  become 
a  regular  university  celebration.  This  year 
(1901)  I  thought  they  would  forget  it,  as  I  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  continent,  three  thou- 
sand miles  away ;  but  just  as  I  was  about  to  sit 
down  to  the  birthday  turkey  in  Macon,  Georgia, 
I  received  a  telegram  of  congratulation  from  the 
students  of  the  University.  I  was  intensely 
gratified,  but  thought  of  course  nothing  more 

322 


SCIENTIFIC   ACTIVITY 

was  possible;  but  on  my  return  to  Berkeley  I 
found  awaiting  me  their  annual  gift,  a  really 
valuable  work  of  art.*  The  many  evidences  of 
affection  that  I  have  received  from  the  students, 
the  faculty,  the  regents,  and  all  the  people  of 
the  State  have  greatly  endeared  the  University 
of  California  and  the  people  to  me.  There  is  no 
place  like  California! 

The  year  1896  was  an  especially  prolific  one 
with  me.  In  the  spring  I  wrote  as  my  contri- 
bution to  the  discussion  of  Professor  Watson's 
Comte,  Mill,  and  Spencer,  which  the  Philosoph- 
ical Union  was  studying,  a  paper  on  The  Rela- 
tion of  Biology  to  Philosophy.  This  was  also 
read  at  Greenacre  and  Jacksonville  in  August, 
at  Boston  and  Cambridge  in  October,  and  at 
Columbia  in  December;  and  was  finally  pub- 
lished, but  without  my  permission,  in  the  Arena 
for  April,  1897. f  This  was  a  grievous  wrong 
to  me,  particularly  as  the  sense  of  the  article 
was  marred  by  some  bad  typographical  errors ; 
but  I  do  not  think  that  the  editor  of  the  Arena 

*  On  the  recurrence  of  Professor  Le  Conte's  birthday  in  1902, 
the  lecture-table  was  again  decorated  with  flowers  by  the  stu- 
dents and  memorial  exercises  were  held.  It  is  the  intention  to 
hold  annual  memorial  exercises  on  that  day  for  the  members  of 
the  University  that  have  died  during  the  preceding  year. 

f  XVII,  549-567. 

323 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

was  responsible  for  it.  A  little  later  in  the 
spring  I  wrote  an  article  entitled  From  Animal 
to  Man,  in  which  I  tried  to  point  out  the  essen- 
tial differences ;  and  published  it  in  the  Monist, 
for  April,  1896.* 

In  the  summer  I  attended  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  at  Buffalo,  and  presided  over  the  Geo- 
logical Society  of  America.  The  meeting  was 
rather  informal  as  the  papers  were  by  agree- 
ment read  before  the  Geological  Section  of  the 
Association,  but  was  notable  because  in  honor 
of  Professor  James  Hall  on  the  completion  of 
his  sixtieth  consecutive  year  of  work  on  the 
geology  of  New  York.  Many  addresses  were 
made,  including  one  by  myself,  and  published  in 
Science  f  in  the  following  November.  The  re- 
mainder of  August  I  spent  in  New  York  super- 
intending new  editions  of  my  books,  Sight  and 
The  Elements  of  Geology,  and  early  in  Septem- 
ber set  sail  for  England  with  my  wife  and 
daughter  Caroline. 

The  special  purpose  of  this  trip  to  England 
was  to  attend  the  meeting  at  Liverpool  of  the 
British   Association   for   the   Advancement   of 

*  VI,  356-381.  f  N.  S.,  iv,  698-699. 

324 


SECOND  VISIT  TO  EUEOPE 

Science,  to  which  I  had  been  especially  invited. 
I  met  many  old  friends  and  made  a  number  of 
new  ones,  among  them  Rev.  John  "Watson  (Ian 
Maclaren),  the  Rev.  Mr.  Armstrong,  Sir  H. 
Roscoe,  with  whom  I  had  a  long  talk  on  educa- 
tion in  the  United  States,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bouloir.  In  London  also  I  met  many  friends, 
though  many  others,  among  them  Professor 
Hughes  and  Sir  John  Lubbock,  were  unfortu- 
nately out  of  town.  Sir  Archibald  Geikie  was 
again  very  cordial  and  kind,  as  was  Professor 
Woodward,  of  the  British  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  Of  Herbert  Spencer,  who  invited  me 
to  luncheon  at  his  home,  I  saw  much.  I  there 
met  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  introduced  me  to  the 
Athenaeum  and  had  me  made  a  member  during 
my  stay  in  London. 

Twice,  once  by  myself  and  once  with  my 
family,  I  visited  Mr.  Pearsall  Smith  at  his  coun- 
try house  near  Haslemere,  Surrey.  Mr.  Smith, 
who  is  an  American,  is  a  remarkable  man.  In 
early  life  he  was  a  most  wonderful  lay-revival- 
ist, famous  throughout  America  and  Europe, 
even  kings  and  queens  seeking  his  company  and 
honoring  him.  A  man  of  genial,  sympathetic 
nature,  warm  feelings,  and  vivid  imagination,  but 
also  of  clear,  vigorous  mind,  he  began,  as  might 

325 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

have  been  expected,  to  suspect  his  vivid  visions 
as  he  grew  older,  and  finally  ended  in  utter 
skepticism.  I  talked  much  and  earnestly  with 
him,  and,  like  a  drowning  man  at  a  plank,  he 
caught  at  my  views  with  a  joy  and  love  that 
were  overpowering.  He  actually  hugged  me 
and  almost  wept  when  we  parted,  and  after  my 
return  to  America  continued  to  write  express- 
ing his  gratitude  and  love.  His  place  is  in  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  England,  a  favor- 
ite summer  resort  of  Tennyson,  Tyndal,  and 
Harrison.  The  country  is  diversified  and  in 
part  covered  with  primeval  forests  of  great  ex- 
tent, which  Mr.  Smith  asserts  are  the  very  ones 
in  which  Gurth  and  Wamba  fed  the  hogs  of 
Cedric  the  Saxon ! 

I  was  obliged  to  make  my  stay  in  England 
short  that  I  might  be  present  at  the  sesquicen- 
tennial  celebration  at  Princeton  in  October, 
when  the  name  and  legal  status  of  the  institu- 
tion were  changed  from  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey to  Princeton  University.  It  was  made  a 
great  occasion,  with  ceremonies,  parades,  and 
addresses.  Distinguished  men  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  were  honored  with  degrees,  and  I 
was  given  that  of  LL.  D.  The  degree  has  be- 
come so  common  that  I  care  little  for  it  per  se, 

326 


SECOND  VISIT  TO  EUROPE 

but  given  under  these  circumstances  it  certainly 
was  a  distinguished  honor. 

After  the  celebration  I  visited  Cambridge  as 
the  guest  of  a  former  pupil  in  the  University  of 
California,  Professor  Josiah  Royce;  and  spent 
a  delightful  fortnight  meeting  many  old  friends, 
among  the  number  Mrs<  Agassiz  and  Alexander 
Agassiz,  Mrs.  Asa  Gray,  and  James  Peirce. 
While  here  I  read  my  paper  on  The  Relation 
of  Biology  to  Philosophy  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Cambridge  Conference  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Ole 
Bull,  and  spent  one  evening  discussing  evolu- 
tion and  its  relation  to  religion  with  the  pro- 
fessors and  students  of  the  Divinity  School,  and 
another  dining  with  "  the  Berkeley  colony," 
some  twenty  or  twenty-five  of  my  former  stu- 
dents in  California.  Under  the  guidance  of 
Mrs.  Geo.  H.  Palmer,  a  former  president  of 
Wellesley,  I  visited  that  college  and  was  hospi- 
tably entertained  by  the  president  and  faculty. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  charming  places  I  ever 
saw,  with  extensive  grounds,  thick  woods,  beau- 
tiful lakes,  and  fine  buildings — a  very  paradise. 
From  Cambridge  I  went  for  a  short  visit  to  Bar 
Harbor  as  the  guest  of  Mrs.  Mary  Ward  Dorr. 

After  attending  the  meetings  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Science  in  New  York  in  November, 

327 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

I  went  South,  whither  my  wife  and  daughter 
had  preceded  me.  Soon  after  Christmas,  how- 
ever, I  was  in  "Washington  to  preside  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America. 
My  address  on  Earth  Crust  Movements  and 
Their  Causes  was  not  only  published  in  Sci- 
ence *  and  as  a  Bulletin  f  by  the  Society,  but 
was  selected  with  a  number  of  distinguished 
papers  to  be  reprinted  in  the  Report  of  the 
Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion for  18964 

Immediately  after  this  meeting  I  returned 
South  and  Mrs.  Le  Conte  and  I  celebrated  our 
golden  wedding  in  my  daughter's  house  at 
Scottsboro,  only  two  miles  from  Midway,  where 
we  were  married.  Joe  having  come  on  from 
California,  we  had  our  celebration  in  the  pres- 
ence of  all  our  children  and  grandchildren,  as 
well  as  of  many  friends  from  Milledgeville  and 
Macon.  It  was  a  happy  occasion  for  all,  but 
most  of  all  for  my  dear  wife  and  me.  On  the 
very  day  of  the  celebration  we  were  made  still 
happier  by  the  arrival  of  telegrams  of  greeting 
and  congratulation  and  of  presents  from  the 
regents,  the  faculty,  and  the  students  of  the 

*  N.  S.,  v,  321-330.        f  VIII,  113-126. .       \  Pp.  233-244. 

328 


SCIENTIFIC   ACTIVITY 

University  of  California.  But  what  can  I  say 
of  the  great  reception  that  followed  our  return, 
when  three  or  four  thousand  people  crowded 
into  the  Hopkins  Art  Building  of  the  University 
to  welcome  us  home?  There  was  of  course  the 
usual  hand-shaking  and  speechifying,  and  we 
were  presented  with  a  beautiful  golden  loving- 
cup.  This  splendid  reception  had  been  ar- 
ranged by  the  alumni  of  the  University,  and 
was  all  the  more  gratifying  to  me  because  given 
not  to  me  alone  but  to  my  dear  good  wife  as  well. 
And,  as  if  this  was  not  enough,  the  faculty  gave 
us  a  splendid  dinner!  I  do  not  relate  these 
things  in  any  spirit  of  boastfulness  or  vanity; 
on  the  contrary,  they  make  me  feel  really 
humble. 

The  summer  of  1897  I  spent  in  the  Yosemite 
once  more  with  my  family,  my  son  and  daughter 
camping  and  my  wife  and  I  staying  at  the  hotel. 
I  joined  the  campers  for  a  while  and  made  a 
very  enjoyable  trip  of  three  or  four  days  to 
Clouds'  Rest  and  the  Little  Yosemite.  Is  this 
the  last  time  I  shall  behold  these  marvels,  the 
very  last?    "We  shall  see. 

In  1898  I  published  a  new  and  revised  edi- 
tion of  my  Compend  of  Geology;  delivered  an 
address  on  Charter  Day  on  The  True  Idea  of  a 

329 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

University;  and  contributed  my  share  to  the 
Philosophical  Union's  discussion  of  Professor 
James's  The  Will  to  Believe,  by  reading  a  paper 
on  his  chapter  on  Keflex  Function  and  Theism. 
My  Charter  Day  address  was  printed  in  the 
University  Chronicle,*  and  the  latter  part  was 
reprinted  in  the  Monist  f  under  the  title  A  Note 
on  the  Religious  Significance  of  Science. 

The  summer  of  1898  and  that  of  the  follow- 
ing year  I  devoted  to  the  care  of  my  daughter, 
who  was  seriously  ill  with  nervous  prostration. 
I  made  no  long  trips,  merely  taking  my  wife  and 
daughter  into  Sonoma  County  and  into  the 
Santa  Cruz  mountains  for  a  few  weeks. 
,       During  1899  I  published  in  the  Journal  of 

/Geology  %  a  paper  that  I  regard  as  one  of  my 
most  important,  that  on  The  Ozarkian  and  its 
Significance  in  Theoretical  Geology.  It  gathered 
up  many  thoughts  that  had  long  been  germinat- 
ing in  my  mind  and  had  ripened  and  taken  defi- 
nite shape  during  my  lectures  to  a  graduate 
class  in  geology.  In  January  and  February, 
1900, 1  published  in  the  Popular  Science  Month- 
ly tt  a  popular  article  entitled  A  Century  of 


*  I,  3-19.  |  VII,  525-544. 

t  X,  161-166.  *  LVI,  431-443,  546-556. 

330 


SCIENTIFIC   ACTIVITY 

Geology,  in  which  I  briefly  traced  the  history 
of  the  evolution  of  geological  thought. 

I  had  thought  my  camping  days  were  over, 
and  had  taken  an  affectionate  leave  of  the  grand 
scenes  of  the  high  Sierra.  But  from  time  to 
time  the  yearning  for  camp  life  comes  upon  me, 
and  as  Joe  was  preparing  for  a  camping  trip  in 
the  King's  River  canon,  which  I  had  never 
seen,  he  urged  me  to  accompany  him.  I  was 
now  seventy-seven,  but  was  in  good  health  and 
spirits,  so  determined  to  try  it.  Such  camps 
have  always  renewed  my  life  and  this  was  no 
exception.  I  was  in  camp  six  weeks,  part  of  the 
time  at  an  altitude  of  eleven  thousand  feet — I 
even  reached  Kearsarge  Pass,  twelve  thousand 
feet — and  was  in  perfect  health  all  the  time. 
As  Joe  is  the  prince  of  campers,  we  lived  well ; 
and  I  never  enjoyed  a  camping  trip  more  than 
this  one.  Is  this  my  last,  my  very  last1?  I  sup- 
pose so.  On  my  return  I  wrote  an  account  of 
the  trip,  which  was  published,  with  reproduc- 
tions of  photographs  by  my  son,  in  the  October, 
1900,  number  of  Sunset.* 

During  the  summer  the  regents  again  voted 
me  leave  of  absence  for  a  year,  this  time  that  I 

*  III,  275-285. 

331 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

might  be  present  at  and  take  part  in  the  deliber- 
ations and  discussions  of  the  international  con- 
gresses that  were  to  meet  in  Paris  in  this  closing' 
year  of  the  century.  I  had  been  invited  to  meet 
with  the  Geological,  Mining,  Zoological,  Psy- 
chological, Geographical,  and  Educational  Con- 
gresses ;  and  was  especially  anxious  to  meet  the 
assembled  geologists.  But  at  the  last  moment, 
when  I  had  engaged  my  steamship  tickets  and 
made  all  preparations  to  go,  the  condition  of  my 
daughter,  whose  illness  has  been  mentioned, 
compelled  me  to  give  up  the  idea.  In  Septem- 
ber, however,  as  she  was  much  better,  my  wife 
and  I  went  East  with  the  intention  of  crossing 
the  Atlantic.  But  in  New  York  I  was  taken  ill 
with  la  grippe,  and  was  in  the  hospital  for  a 
month  with  a  slight  fever  and  a  severe  bronchial 
cough.  As  soon  as  I  was  able  I  went  to  the 
home  of  my  daughter  in  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  and  there  quickly  and  completely 
recovered.  I  spent  the  winter  in  Columbia, 
Scottsboro,  and  Macon  with  my  children,  grand- 
children, and  great-grandchildren,  and  really  re- 
newed my  youth  in  the  delights  of  my  love  for 
them.  As  I  was  none  the  worse  for  my  illness, 
I  decided  to  go  to  Europe  in  the  spring.  But 
Mrs.  Le  Conte  yearned  for  her  home  and  the 

332 


SUMMARY 

children  in  California,  and  I  began  to  perceive 
that  she  would  not  be  happy  during  a  visit  to 
Europe.  I  therefore  reluctantly  brought  her 
back  home,  arriving  on  the  third  of  March, 
1901.  So  here  I  am  again.  I  still  hope  to  fin- 
ish my  year  of  absence  in  Europe,  but  I  know 
not.  My  son  is  to  marry  in  June  and  much  de- 
sires that  I  should  be  present  at  his  wedding. 

And  now,  looking  back  on  a  long  life  of  in- 
cessant activity,  what  have  I  done  of  value  to 
the  world!  what  have  I  added  to  human 
thought?  what  influences  for  good  may  I  hope 
to  leave  behind  me? 

I. — In  Science,  and  touching  only  the  most 
important  points : 

(a)  My  paper  in  1859  on  The  Correlation  of 
Physical,  Chemical,  and  Vital  Force  gave,  I 
think,  both  impulse  and  greater  definiteness  to 
scientific  thought  on  that  subject.  Carpenter  in 
the  last  edition  of  his  Physiology  gives  me 
credit  for  distinct  advance  on  this  subject. 

(6)  My  researches  on  the  phenomena  of  bin- 
ocular vision,  I  am  sure  did  clear  up  the  thought 
in  this  field.  I  claim,  and  have  been  generally 
accorded,  the  credit  of  several  original  thoughts, 
which  have  remained  a  permanent  possession  of 
science:  (1)  The  demonstration  of  the  real  na- 

333 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ture  of  the  horopter;  (2)  The  demonstration  of 
the  true  nature  of  the  theory  of  binocular  per- 
spective; (3)  The  demonstration  of  certain  fun- 
damental physical  phenomena  in  binocular  vi- 
sion, and  the  devising  of  a  new  mode  of  dia- 
grammatic representation  based  thereon.  These 
phenomena  had  been  observed  by  some,  but  not 
understood.  Their  explanation  had  been 
hinted  at  by  others,  but  never  before  clearly 
brought  out;  (4)  The  explanation,  for  the 
first  time,  of  certain  peculiarities  of  phantom 
planes. 

(c)  In  Geology,  I  believe  some  real  substan- 
tial advance  in  science  was  made  in  my  series  of 
papers;  (1)  on  the  structure  and  origin  of 
mountain  ranges;  (2)  on  the  genesis  of  metal- 
liferous veins;  (3)  especially  in  that  on  critical 
periods  in  the  history  of  the  earth;  (4)  on  the 
demonstration  of  the  Ozarkian,  or  better,  the 
Sierran  epoch,  as  one  of  great  importance  in  the 
history  of  the  earth.  I  might  mention  several 
others  that  I  believe  are  of  prime  importance, 
but  I  am  willing  to  stand  by  these. 

(d)  In  Biology,  my  views  on  glycogeny, 
although  not  yet  certain,  have  undoubtedly  con- 
tributed to  clearness  of  scientific  thought  on 
that  important  subject. 

334 


SUMMARY 

II. — In  Philosophy. 

I  look  back  with  especial  pleasure  on  my 
writings  on  evolution.  I  lay  no  claim  to  the 
discovery  of  new  facts  bearing  on  the  theory  of 
evolution,  but  only  to  have  cleared  up  its  nature 
and  scope  and  especially  to  have  shown  its  true 
relation  to  religious  thought.  It  is  well  to  stop 
a  moment  to  show  the  roles  of  different  thinkers 
in  the  advance  on  this  subject.  Leaving  out  of 
consideration  mere  vague  philosophic  specula- 
tions, like  those  of  ancient  philosophers  and  of 
Swedenborg  in  more  modern  times,  I  would  say 
that  the  role  of  Lamarck  was  to  introduce  evo- 
lution as  a  scientific  theory;  that  of  Darwin  to 
present  the  theory  in  such  wise  as  to  make  it 
acceptable  to  and  accepted  by  the  scientific 
mind ;  that  of  Huxley  to  fight  the  battles  of  evo- 
lution and  to  win  its  acceptance  by  the  intelli- 
gent popular  mind ;  that  of  Spencer  to  general- 
ize it  into  a  universal  law  of  nature,  thereby 
making  it  a  philosophy  as  well  as  a  scientific 
theory.  Finally,  it  was  left  to  American  think- 
ers to  show  that  a  materialistic  implication  is 
wholly  unwarranted,  that  evolution  is  entirely 
consistent  with  a  rational  theism  and  with  other 
fundamental  religious  beliefs.  My  own  work 
has  been  chiefly  in  this  direction.    In  my  lec- 

335 


JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

tures  in  1872  on  Religion  and  Science,  I  might 
be  called  a  reluctant  evolutionist,  yet  even  then, 
in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  book,  I  tried  to 
show  the  mode  of  origin  of  the  spirit  of  man 
from  the  psyche  of  animals  by  a  process  of  evo- 
lution. In  a  few  years,  however,  I  was  an  evo- 
lutionist, thorough  and  enthusiastic.  Enthusi- 
astic, not  only  because  it  is  true,  and  all  truth 
is  the  image  of  God  in  the  human  reason,  but 
also  because  of  all  the  laws  of  nature  it  is  by 
far  the  most  religious,  that  is,  the  most  in  ac- 
cord with  religious  philosophic  thought.  It  is, 
indeed,  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be 
to  all  peoples.  Woe  is  me,  if  I  preach  not  the 
Gospel.  Literally,  it  can  be  shown  that  all  the 
apparent  irreligious  and  materialistic  implica- 
tions of  science  are  reversed  by  this  last  child 
of  science,  or  rather  this  daughter  of  the  mar- 
riage of  science  and  philosophy.  During  all  my 
life  I  have  striven  earnestly  to  show  this.  My 
book  on  Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious 
Thought  is  the  embodiment  of  the  result  of 
these  strivings,  although  I  believe  that  if  I 
wrote  it  again  I  could  add  much  to  the  argu- 
ment. I  began  this  line  of  thought  in  1871,  and 
believe,  and  therefore  claim,  that  I  was  the 
pioneer  in  this  reaction  against  the  materialistic 

336 


SUMMARY 

and  irreligious  implication  of  the  doctrine  of 
evolution.  I  look  with  greater  pleasure  on  this 
than  on  anything  else  that  I  have  done.  At  first 
I  suffered  some,  not  much,  obloquy  on  the  part 
of  the  extreme  orthodox  people,  but  I  have  lived 
to  see  this  pass  away,  and  all  intelligent  clergy- 
men coming  to  my  position. 

All,  or  nearly  all,  of  my  philosophic  writings 
are  more  or  less  connected  with  the  doctrine  of 
evolution,  and  I  regard  these  as  among  the  most 
important  of  my  writings.  Indeed  one  of  my 
friends  thinks  that  the  best  and  most  permanent 
that  I  have  done  is  in  the  domain  of  philosophy 
rather  than  in  that  of  science  proper.  But  he 
is  a  philosopher;  perhaps  my  scientific  friends 
think  differently. 


a) 


THE    END 


23  337 


PROF.  JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  BOOKS. 

The  Comparative  Physiology  and  Morphology 
of  Animals. 

Illustrated.      i2mo.      Cloth,  $2.00. 

The  work  of  Darwin  on  the  derivation  of  species  and  the  descent  of  man 
awakened  a  new  interest  in  the  lower  animals,  and  furnished  additional  evidence 
of  their  close  kinship  with  ourselves.  A  fresh  field  of  study  was  thus  opened 
up,  embracing  the  likenesses  and  differences  of  action  as  well  as  structure  found 
throughout  the  animal  kingdom.  In  this  work  Professor  Le  Conte  gives  us, 
in  his  well-known  clear  and  simple  style  and  with  the  aid  of  numerous  illustra- 
tions, an  interesting  outline  of  these  similarities  and  variations  of  function  as 
displayed  among  the  various  classes  of  animals  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest, 
man  included. 

Religion  and  Science. 

A  Series  of  Sunday  Lectures  on  the  Relation  of  Natural  and 
Revealed  Religion,  or  the  Truths  revealed  in  Nature  and  Scripture. 
l2mo.      Cloth,  $1.50. 

Elements  of  Geology. 

A  Text-Book  for  Colleges  and  for  the  General  Reader.  With 
new  Plates,  new  Illustrations,  new  Matter,  fully  revised  to  date. 
8vo.      Cloth,  $4.00. 

Sight. 

An  Exposition  of  the  Principles  of  Monocular  and  Binocular 
Vision.  With  Illustrations.  Second  edition.  No.  31,  Inter- 
national Scientific  Series.      i2mo.      Cloth,  $1.50. 

Evolution  and  its  Relation  to  Religious  Thought 

Revised  edition.      i2mo.      Cloth,  $1.50. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


"THE  BOOK  OF  THE  YEAR/' 

Life  and   Letters  of  Thomas  Henry 
Huxley. 

By  his  Son,  Leonard  Huxley.     In  two  volumes. 
Illustrated.     8vo.     Cloth,  $5.00  net. 

"  This  very  complete  revelation  of  the  character  and  work  ol 
a  man  who  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  forces  which  gave 
character  to  the  nineteenth  century  will  be  welcomed  by  a  far 
wider  circle  of  readers  than  that  which  is  interested  in  Huxley's 
strictly  scientific  researches.  .  .  .  These  two  richly  interesting 
volumes  are  sure  to  be  widely  read." — London  Times. 

"  It  '  goes  without  saying '  what  precious  freight  was  carried 
by  Huxley's  letters.  .  .  .  These  two  delightful  volumes." — . 
London  Chronicle. 

"  Huxley's  life  was  so  full,  so  active,  so  many-sided,  in  touch 
with  such  a  number  of  interesting  people,  that  this  work  appeals 
to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  .  .  .  An  admirably  written 
biography." — London  Standard. 

"His  letters  are  a  self-revelation  of  the  man,  his  work,  his 
ambitions,  his  trials,  his  views  of  religion,  his  philosophy,  his 
public  activity  and  domestic  happiness.  .  .  .  Whoso  reads  these 
volumes  will  feel  that  he  knows  better  a  man  worth  knowing, 
and  the  number  who  will  read  them  will  be  great." — London 
Telegraph. 

"Huxley's  career  makes  a  wonderful  story." — London 
Mail. 

"  Mr.  Leonard  Huxley  has  given  the  world  many  extremely 
valuable  and  interesting  letters,  all  characteristic,  and  he  has  con- 
nected them  by  a  well-written  consecutive  narrative  which  is 
sufficient  to  weave  them  together." — London  News. 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY,    NEW    YORK. 


44  THE  FIRST  WOMAN  OF  FRANCE/' 

The  Romance  of  My  Childhood  and  Youth. 

By  Madame  Edmond  Adam  (Juliette  Lamber).  Photo- 
gravure portrait.     i2mo.     Cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.40  net. 

"  The  book  is  really  a  romance  of  French  history  for  a  century. 
It  begins  with  the  extraordinary  career  of  Mile.  Lamber's  grand- 
mother, who  had  a  profound  influence  upon  her  early  life,  and 
whose  love  story  is  as  fine  as  any  that  novelist  ever  imagined. 
And  as  to  herself,  it  is  such  a  revelation  of  development  of  char- 
acter and  conduct  as  nobody  but  a  Frenchwoman  could  possibly 
write." — The  New  York  World. 

"A  curious  and  romantic  story  of  a  curious  and  romantic 
French  family,  related  with  sympathetic  candor." — Philadelphia 
Public  Ledger. 

"  Such  a  clear,  precise  style  that  the  resulting  picture  in  our 
minds  is  as  distinct  as  it  is  full  of  color  and  vividness." — The 
New  York  Outlook. 

"  She  has  made  clear  the  conflicting'  emotions  that  helped  to 
form  her  character  and  shape  her  ambitions." — New  York  Times 
Saturday  Reviezu. 

"  Apart  from  its  vivacity  and  dramatic  qualities,  the  book  is 
extraordinarily  interesting  as  showing,  through  a  personal  medium, 
the  forces  and  dreams  that  met  together  in  France  in  those  days 
for  the  creation  of  the  new  socialism." — New  York  Independent. 

"  Nothing  more  pathetic,  more  unlike  the  ordinary,  and  more 
picturesque  can  be  found  in  biography." — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

"A  delightful  picture  of  French  family  life." — The Booklovers 
Bulletin. 

"This  marvelous  autobiography." — Cleveland  Leader. 

"  Witty,  full  of  life,  and  brilliant." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"  She  has  told  the  story  as  only  a  brilliant  Frenchwoman  can." 
— Baltimore  Herald. 

D.     APPLETON    AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


"The  Most  Remarkable  Autobiography/' 

My  Life  in  Many  States  and  in  Foreign  Lands. 

Written  in  the  Mills  Hotel,  in  my  Seventy-fourth  Year. 
By  George  Francis  Train.  Illustrated,  nmo.  Cloth, 
$1.25  net ;  postage,  12  cents  additional. 

"  Positively  fascinating.  His  life  has  been  one  of  stupendous 
commercial  and  important  financial  undertakings." — Boston 
Times. 

"  One  of  the  most  picturesque  figures  ever  known  in  the  his- 
tory of  America,  and  Americans  are  the  most  picturesque  of  all 
modern  peoples." — New  York  Herald. 

"  If  his  career  were  published  as  fiction,  every  one  would  con- 
sider it  so  improbable  as  to  be  ridiculous." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"  The  strangest  man  in  the  world  has  written  his  autobiography 
— probably  the  most  remarkable  autobiography  ever  written." — 
New  York  World. 

"  A  tale  that  transcends  in  interest  all  the  remarkable  tales  that 
were  ever  woven  out  of  the  silver  threads  of  fiction  or  the  golden 
threads  of  truth,  putting  to  the  blush  most  of  the  novels  and  all 
the  books  of  personal  narrative  that  have  ever  been  written." — 
Philadelphia  Item. 

"  A  remarkable  story  of  a  remarkable  life,  the  amazing  facts 
of  a  career  without  a  parallel  for  daring  and  eccentricity." — 
Tacoma  Ledger. 

"This  book  would  be  a  severe  test  of  the  reader's  credulity 
were  the  things  related  not  all  matters  of  actual  history."—  -Ameri- 
can Review  of  Reviews. 

"  It  reads  like  a  whole  bunch  of  romances  and  melodrama  and 
comedies  and  tragedies  rolled  into  one.  A  human  document  of 
a  rare  kind." — Providence  News. 

"  It  is  the  story  of  a  man  absolutely  fearless  of  consequences, 
of  high  ideals,  and  a  genius  for  taking  hazards  of  new  fortunes.'' 
— New  York  Christian  Work. 

D.     APPLETON    AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


THREE   IMPORTANT   BOOKS. 


Recollections  of  the  Civil  War. 

By  Charles  A.  Dana.  With  Portrait  and  Index.  Large 
i2mo.     Gilt  top,  uncut,  $2.00. 

"The  book  will  rank  among  the  trustworthy  sources  of  knowledge  of  the 
civil  war." — Ne-w  York  Evening  Post. 

"Mr.  Dana's  official  position  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  while  the  re- 
bellion was  in  progress  gave  him  exceptional  opportunities  of  observation  which 
he  was  keen  to  take  advantage  of,  while  his  rare  gift  of  terse  and  vivid  expres- 
sion enabled  him  to  record  what  he  saw  in  a  series  of  pen  pictures  that  are  little 
less  than  instantaneous  photographs.  The  feature  par  excellence  of  these 
reminiscences  is  their  interesting  character.  .  .  .  He  tells  you  briefly  but 
graphically  what  he  saw,  heard,  or  did  himself.  One  gains  a  very  real  and 
personal  knowledge  of  the  war  from  these  'Recollections.'  " — Chicago  Times- 
Herald. 

Cannon  and  Camera. 

Sea  and  Land  Battles  of  the  Spanish-American  War  in 
Cuba,  Camp  Life,  and  the  Return  of  the  Soldiers.  De- 
scribed and  illustrated  by  J.  C.  Hemment,  War  Artist  at 
the  Front.  With  over  one  hundred  full-page  pictures 
taken  by  the  Author,  and  an  Index.  Large  i2ino.  Cloth, 
$2.00. 

"  Accurate  as  well  as  picturesque.  .  .  .  Mr.  Hemment  has  done  his  work 
well.  In  point  of  faithful  realism  there  has  thus  far  been  nothing  better  in  the 
whole  war  literature." — Boston  Journal. 

Puerto  Rico  and  its  Resources. 

A  book  for  Travelers,  Investors,  and  others,  containing 
Full  Accounts  of  Natural  Features  and  Resources,  Prod- 
ucts, People,  Opportunities  for  Business,  etc.  By  Fred- 
erick A.  Oeer,  author  of  "Camps  in  the  Caribbees," 
"  Crusoe's  Island,"  etc.  With  Map  and  Illustrations. 
i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

"You  have  brought  together  in  a  small  space  an  immense  amount  of  most 
valuable  information,  which  it  is  very  important  to  have  within  the  reach  of  the 
American  people  at  this  time." — Hon.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge. 

D.     APPLETON     AND      COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


A  PICTURESQUE  BOOK  OF  THE  SEA. 
A  Sailor's  Log. 

Recollections  of  Forty  Tears  of  Naval  Life.  By  Rear- 
Admiral  Robley  D.  Evans,  U.  S.  N.  Illustrated. 
Large  i2mo.     Cloth,  $2.00. 

"It  is  essentially  a  book  for  men,  young  and  old  ;  and  the 
man  who  does  not  enjoy  it  is  lacking  in  healthy  red  blood." — 
Chicago  Bookseller. 

"A  profoundly  interesting  book.  There  is  not  a  line  of  bra- 
vado in  its  chapters,  nor  a  carping  criticism.  It  is  a  book  which 
will  increase  the  esteem  and  high  honor  which  the  American  feels 
and  willingly  awards  our  naval  heroes." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"It  would  be  difficult  to  find  an  autobiography  possessing 
more  interest  than  this  narrative  of  forty  years  of  active  naval  serv- 
ice. It  equals  the  most  fascinating  novel  for  interest  ;  it  contains 
a  great  deal  of  material  that  has  a  distinct  historical  value.  .  .  . 
Altogether  it  is  a  most  delightful  book." — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  His  is  a  picturesque  personality,  and  he  stands  the  supreme 
test  by  being  as  popular  with  his  officers  and  men  as  he  is  with 
the  public  generally.  His  life  has  been  one  of  action  and  adven- 
ture since  he  was  a  boy,  and  the  record  of  it  which  he  has  pre- 
pared in  his  book  'A  Sailor's  Log'  has  not  a  dull  line  in  it  from 
cover  to  cover.  It  is  all  action,  action,  and.  again  action  from  the 
first  page  to  the  last,  and  makes  one  want  to  go  and  '  do  things  ' 
himself.  Any  boy  between  fitteen  and  nineteen  who  reads  this 
book  and  does  not  want  to  go  to  sea  must  be  a  sluggish  youth. 
.  .  .  The  book  is  really  an  interesting  record  of  an  interesting 
man." — New  York  Press. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK.. 


A  REMARKABLE  AND  TIMELY  BOOK. 


The  Private    Life  of  the  Sultan. 

By  Georges  Dorys,  son  of  the  late  Prince  of  Samos, 
a  former  minister  of  the  Sultan,  and  formerly  Governor 
of  Crete.  Translated  by  Arthur  Hornblow.  Uniform 
with  "The  Private  Life  of  King  Edward  VII."  Illus- 
trated. i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.20  net;  postage,  10  cents  addi- 
tional. 

The  high  position  that  the  writer's  father  held  at  Constantinople  gave  the 
son  a  close  insight  into  the  personality  of  one  of  the  least  known  of  modem 
rulers,  so  far  as  personality  is  concerned.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the 
author  has  long  since  left  the  domain  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  and  he  is 
now  a  member  of  the  Young  Turk  party  and  a  resident  of  Paris.  It  is  now 
announced  that  he  has  been  recently  condemned  to  death  by  the  Sultan  on 
account  of  this  book.  He  was  formerly  a  correspondent  of  the  London 
Chronicle  and  sub-correspondent  of  the  London  Times  at  Constantinople. 
That  the  influence  of  Abdul-Hamid  extends  beyond  his  own  kingdom  is 
shown,  however,  by  the  fact  that  this  book  was  recently  suppressed  in 
Copenhagen.  The  power  and  persistence  of  Turkey,  and  the  importance 
of  the  Sultan  in  European  politics  as  shown  by  the  German  Emperor's 
efforts  at  affiliation,  add  weight  to  this  curious  story  of  the  Sultan's  rise  to 
power,  his  strange  daily  life  and  personal  habits.  The  various  details  prac- 
tically unknown  to  the  world  are  of  special  interest  as  illustrations  of  the 
actual  character  of  a  man  with  vast  power  and  capable  of  causing  the  most 
serious  complications  in  world  politics.  This  intimate  history  will  help  the 
reader  to  balance  the  conflicting  opinions  that  have  been  expressed  of  the 
Sultan,  ranging  from  Gladstone's  phrase  "  The  Great  Assassin  "  to  the  com- 
paratively rose-colored  views  of  him  as  an  amiable  ruler,  much  harassed  by 
rebellious  Armenians  and  unreasonably  persistent  creditors.  The  prospect 
of  the  changes  likely  to  be  evolved  by  the  Eastern  question  before  much  time 
passes  enhances  the  value  of  this  book.  The  illustrations,  which  are  numer- 
ous and  interesting,  include  an  actual  sketch  of  the  Sultan  that  will  be 
found  strangely  at  variance  with  the  much  earlier  retouched  portraits  that 
usually  pass  as  recent  likenesses. 

D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


AMERICAN   BIOGRAPHY. 


Appletons'     Cyclopaedia     of    American 
Biography. 

Edited  by  General  James  Grant  Wilson  and  Prof. 
John  Fiske.  Sixty  Steel-Plate  Engravings  and  2,000 
Woodcuts  of  Prominent  Americans.  7  ols.,  the  seventh 
bringing  the  original  six-volume  edition  to  date.  Per  vol., 
Cloth  or  Buckram,  $5.00;  Sheep,  $6.00. 

By  Subscription  only  :  Half  Calf  or  Half  Morocco, 
$7.00  per  vol.  The  Cyclopaedia  complete  in  6  vols.,  new 
and  revised  edition,  embodies  the  contents  of  the  seventh 
vol.  mentioned  above.  Royal  8vo.  Half  Morocco, 
$36.00. 

This  massive  work  contains  a  biographical  sketch  of  every  person 
eminent  in  American  civil  and  military  history,  in  law  and  politics,  in 
divinity,  in  literature  and  art,  in  science  and  in  invention.  Its  plan 
embraces  all  the  countries  of  North  and  South  America,  and  includes 
distinguished  persons  born  abroad,  but  related  to  American  history. 
As  events  are  always  connected  with  persons,  it  affords  a  complete 
compendium  of  American  history  in  every  branch  of  human  achieve- 
ment. An  exhaustive  topical  and  analytical  Index  enables  the  reader 
to  follow  the  history  of  any  subject  with  great  readiness. 

"A  most  valuable  and  interesting  work." — From  the  Hon.  William  E. 
Gladstone. 

"The  portraits  are  remarkably  good.  To  any  one  interested  in  Amer- 
ican history  or  literature  the  Cyclopaedia  will  be  indispensable." — From  the 
Hon.  James  Russell  Lowell. 

"  I  have  examined  it  with  great  interest  and  great  gratification.  It  is  a 
noble  work,  and  does  enviable  credit  to  its  editors  and  publishers." — From 
the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop. 

"  It  is  the  most  complete  work  that  exists  on  the  subject.  The  tone  and 
guiding  spirit  of  the  book  are  certainly  very  fair,  and  show  a  mind  bent  on 
a  discriminate,  just,  and  proper  treatment  of  its  subject." — From  the  Hon. 
George  Bancroft. 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY,     NEW    YORK. 


TWENTIETH    CENTURY    TEXT-BOOKS. 


A  Text-Book  of  Geology. 

By  Professor  Albert  Perry  Brigham,  of  Colgate  Uni- 
versity.  477  Pages.    295  Illustrations.   i2mo.    Cloth,  $1.40. 

This  superb  f,-xt-book  is  the  best  account  for  secondary 
schools  of  the  earth's  mai/elous  origin,  of  the  processes  that 
brought  the  ordered  world  out  of  chaos,  and  of  the  phenomena 
of  geologic  evolution — considered  dynamically,  structurally,  and 
historically.  The  planet's  life  history  is  told  with  directness, 
brevity,  and  pedagogic  fitness.  The  text  is  supplemented  with 
295  exquisite  photographic  illustrations,  many  taken  by  Professor 
Brigham  for  this  work.  An  exceptional  success  in  text-book 
writing  and  text-book  making. 

"  Brigham's  Geology  is  the  cleanest  cut  and  best  pedagogical  text- 
book for  the  high  school  that  I  have  seen." — C.  H,  Richardson, 
Hanover,  N.  H. 

"  Most  interesting.  Decidedly  the  most  practical  book  that  I 
have  seen  for  use  in  high  schools." — Miss  S.  A.  Edwards,  Philadelphia 
High  School  for  Girls. 

I  consider  it  the  best  written  and  best  illustrated  book  I  have  ever 
seen  for  secondary  schools." — C.  F.  Warner,  Mechanics  Arts  High 
School,  Springfield,  Mass, 

"  The  most  attractive  text-book  of  Geology  for  secondary  schools 
that  I  have  seen.  The  illustrations  are  a  delight." — Belle  Sherman, 
Ithaca  High  School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

"  It  is  magnificent.  I  consider  it  superior  to  any  other  book  of  the 
kind  in  illustrations,  text,  and  adaptation  to  field  work." — Mrs.  L.  L. 
W.  Wilson,  Philadelphia  Normal  School. 

"  In  every  way  fully  equal  to  any  of  the  splendid  series  of  Twen- 
tieth Century  Text-Books.  Many  of  the  illustrations  are  new  and 
their  execution  is  perfect." — R.  I.  Schiedt,  Professor  of  Geology, 
Franklin  and  Marshall  College,  Lancaster,  Pa. 


APPLETON    AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK, 


MODERN   SCIENCE   SERIES. 

Edited  by  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  F.R.S. 

The  Cause  of  an  Ice  Age. 

By  Sir  Robert  Ball,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Royal  Astronomer  of 
Ireland ;  Author  of  "  Star  Land,"  "  The  Story  of  the  Sun,"  etc. 
l2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

"A  fascinating  subject,  cleverly  related  and  almost  colloquially  discussed." — 
Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

The  Horse. 

A  Study  in  Natural  History.  By  William  H.  Flower,  C.  B., 
Director  in  the  British  Natural  History  Museum.  With  27  Illustra- 
tions.    i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  The  author  admits  that  there  are  3,800  separate  treatises  on  the  horse  already 
published,  but  he  thinks  that  he  can  add  something  to  the  amount  of  useful  informa- 
tion now  before  the  public,  and  that  something  not  heretofore  written  will  be  found 
in  this  book.  The  volume  gives  a  large  amount  of  information,  both  scientific  and 
practical,  on  the  noble  animal  of  which  it  treats." — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

The  Oak. 

A  Popular  Introduction  to  Forest  Botany.  By  H.  MARSHALL 
Ward,  F.  R.  S.     With  53  Illustrations.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  From  the  acorn  to  the  timber  which  has  figured  so  gloriously  in  English  ships 
and  houses,  the  tree  is  fully  described,  and  all  its  living  and  preserved  beauties  and 
virtues,  in  nature  and  in  construction,  are  recounted  and  pictured." — Brooklyn 
Eagle. 

Ethnology  in  Folklore. 

By  George  C.  Gomme,  F.  S.A.,  President  of  the  Folklore  Society, 
etc.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

"The  author  puts  forward  no  extravagant  assumptions,  and  the  method  he  points 
out  for  the  comparative  study  of  folklore  seems  to  promise  a  considerable  extension 
of  knowledge  as  to  prehistoric  times." — Independent. 

The  Laws  and  Properties  of  Matter. 

By  R.  T.  Glazebrook,  F.  R.  S.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

"  It  is  astonishing  how  interesting  such  a  book  can  be  made  when  the  author  has 
a  perfect  mastery  of  his  subject,  as  Mr.  Glazebrook  has.  One  knows  nothing  of  the 
world  in  which  he  lives  until  he  has  obtained  some  insight  of  the  properties  of  matter 
as  explained  in  this  excellent  work." — Chicago  Herald. 

The  Fauna  of  the  Deep  Sea. 

By  Sydney  J.  Hickson,  M.  A.,  Fellow  of  Downing  College, 
Cambridge.     With  23  Illustrations.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

_ "  That  realm  of  mystery  and  wonders  at  the  bottom  of  the  great  waters  is  gradually 
being  mapped  and  explored  and  studied  until  its  secrets  seem  no  longer  secrets.  .  .  . 
This  excellent  book  has  a  score  of  illustrations  and  a  careful  index  to  add  to  its 
value,  and  in  every  way  is  to  be  commended  for  its  interest  and  its  scientific  merit." 
— Chicago  Times. 

D.    APPLETON    AND     COMPANY,     NEW     YORK. 


